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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27820870">Steven Universe Christmas Calendar REDUX</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lampman/pseuds/The_Lampman'>The_Lampman</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Drama, Happy Ending, Post-Steven Universe: The Movie, Some Plot, and it all ends happily, au i guess, but with fluff and fun too, quite a lot of plot actually</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:21:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>32,125</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27820870</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lampman/pseuds/The_Lampman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set some time after the movie/during Future.</p>
<p>While visiting Steven, the Diamonds learn of something called "Christmas," and "Santa Claus." Enamored by the idea, they set out to make Santa Claus real and deliver presents to every human on Earth as well as teach every gem about this wonderful holiday!</p>
<p>Hijinks ensue.</p>
<p>There will be singing, snow, gifts, candy, clothes and mistletoes, snowball fights with people who take it way too seriously.</p>
<p>Yet all is not well. Darkness looms over Homeworld as the evil Winter Shadow tries to destroy Christmas...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>143</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. What Is Christmas?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 1: What is Christmas?<br/>
<br/>
</b>
  </span>
  <span class="s1">Earth.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">Beach City.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">December 1st.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">
    <em>”Jingle bells, jingle bells<br/>
</em>
  </span>
  <span class="s1">
    <em>Jingle all the way”<br/>
<br/>
</em>
  </span>
  <span class="s1">Steven was humming to himself as he pottered about outside of his home. It was in the afternoon. The day was grey and sullen. Thick clouds obscured the sun in the sky and it was already starting to get dark.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">The young man was in good spirits, however. He was just putting the finishing touches on the large spruce standing on the deck in front of the house. He stood balancing on top of a stool, holding a golden five-pointed star in his hand. All that was left was to put the star at the top of the tree, and he’d finally be done.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">
    <em>”Oh what fun it is to ride<br/>
</em>
  </span>
  <span class="s1">
    <em>In a one-horse open slei-”<br/>
<br/>
</em>
  </span>
  <span class="s1">”STEVEN!”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”-gah!” A very sudden and very loud noise startled him and Steven fell off the stool, landing bottom first on the cold, hard floor beneath. ”Ow,” he muttered, more annoyed than anything. He looked up at the source of the noise; three very tall and very colorful ladies.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Hi Steven,” said White Diamond with a radiant smile. ”It’s us, the Diamonds!”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Yeah, I can see that,” Steven mumbled as he got up. Thankfully, the star was not damaged. He had shielded it with his body. ”What are y’all doing here?” He considered also asking them how they’d managed to sneak up on him without him hearing them. A most impressive feat, considering they were all the size of large buildings and about as subtle as your average skyscraper. After a moment’s consideration, he decided not to ask.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Oh, we just wanted to check in and see how you were doing,” Blue said.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”We were in the neighborhood of the galaxy anyway,” Yellow added. ”We were personally checking the restoration progress on Colony Six-Four-Three.”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”It’s going very well!” White said, clapping her hands.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">Steven nodded, pretending to remember which colony that was supposed to be and why the Diamonds had to go and check on it themselves. He suspected that maybe they just wanted a reason to come visit.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Right,” he said. ”That’s good to hear. As for me, well… I’ve spent most of the day decorating. Was just about to finish.” She gestured towards the spruce before he jumped into the air. He floated momentarily right next to the top of the spruce. He quickly adjusted a light strand and put the large golden star at the top of the tree before he drifted back down to Earth. A lot more gracefully this time.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">Well, a little more grace at least.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">Finally, the time had come! He’d spent most of the day before and today setting this whole thing up and now it was finally time…<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">The Diamonds watched with great fascination as dramatically plugged a power strip into an outlet. Suddenly, several electric lights lit up all over the house and front deck. Seemingly everything was covered in light strips and other brilliant decorations. Multi-colored lights created a soft, warm, inviting bubble around the house, with the Diamonds standing just outside it.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Whoa…” Yellow whispered, trying hard not to show how impressed she was. She always had a bit of a weakness for pretty lights.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”This is beautiful, Steven,” Blue said enthusiastically. ”Did you set this up all by yourself?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Oh, it’s nothing really,” Steven said with a smile. He neglected to mention Peridot had had to modify a few electrics here and there to make sure he didn’t accidentally set something on fire.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”But…” White spoke up. She’d been staying silent for a few minutes, watching Steven with a small frown. ”What’s this?” she asked and gently tapped a small sign in front of the house.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Landing Zone,” the sign said, with a silhouette of a rotund figure in a sled pulled by several reindeer.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Oh, that’s for Santa,” Steven said.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”…and who is this ’Santa,’ Yellow asked, the trio of space matriarchs getting more and more confused by the second. They had all just assumed that Steven put up the lights because it was getting darker on this part of the Earth at this time of the solar cycle.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Oh, Santa Claus is the man who delivers presents every Christmas to everyone who's been nice,” Steven said casually.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Kriss-muss?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Santa Claws?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Presents?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">A While Later…<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">The Diamonds were hanging out on the hill behind the Crystal Gem temple, processing the things Steven had just told them about this ’Christmas’ thing.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Only on Earth,” Blue mused. ”Only on Earth would you find a holiday devoted to giving to others for no other reason than kindness.”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”It does sound nice,” Yellow said. ”But the story of Santa sounds a bit… strange to me.”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">White hadn’t said much, only listening and gazing out into the nothing of the grey sky that was quickly losing whatever little color it still had.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”It does raise a lot of questions,” Blue admitted with a sigh.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Hey!” A smaller voice shouted at the three of them. It was Pearl of the Crystal Gems. ”Steven wonders if you’re staying for dinner?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”No, we should really be getting back to Homeworld,” Yellow said. ”Spinel will get worried if we’re gone for too long.”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Yeah, I remember what happened last time,” Blue said with a shudder. ”Poor Yellow Pearl was close to crying.”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">White still hadn’t said anything, but she extended her hands towards Pearl. Pearl rolled her eyes but hopped up on the giant hand.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Pearl, we were wondering about something Steven told us,” White said. It was still kinda bizarre to hear any hesitation in her voice. A faint pink light on her face revealed to everyone present that she was embarrassed to ask. ”About… Santa Claus?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Oh, Steven told you that story?” Pearl said, shaking her head.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Story…?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Yeah, Santa isn’t real,” Pearl said mercilessly. ”It’s just a story.”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">…<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”WHAT!?”<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">On the Way Back to Homeworld…<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">Yellow and Blue paced back and forth inside the Diamond Flagship. White was leaning against a wall, her head lowered in deep thought.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">Pearl had told them everything she knew about Christmas and Santa Claus. She told them about the legend of Saint Nicholas, the history of how the tradition developed, and the reality of Steven’s dad dressing up in a costume every year.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”Poor Steven,” Blue said. ”He was so excited when he told us about Christmas.” She sobbed loudly. ”But it’s all based on a lie!” Tears started rolling down her cheeks.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">She had done a good job of keeping her negative aura in check for the last two years, but just this once, she let it slip. At least, that’s what Yellow would tell you if you asked her about the single small tear in her eye. There were no tears in White’s eyes, but a deep shade of blue on her face revealed that she too was feeling the sadness.<br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">”What happens when he finds out?” Blue asked. ”He told us Christmas was his favorite holiday. He’ll be heartbroken!”</span><br/>
<br/>
<span class="s1">”No!” White suddenly shouted, startling both Yellow and Blue. White stood straight up, the sad blue color on her replaced with a determined orange light. ”Steven is not going to find out Santa isn’t real!” she said. ”Because we are going to make Santa real!”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. There Is Someone on Homeworld...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 2: There is Someone on Homeworld…</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 2nd.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Once the Diamonds made it back to Homeworld, they wasted no time. They had a plan and a tight schedule. If this was going to work, they’d need the combined might of the entire gem civilization on their side.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They sent out an urgent message to every colony in the galaxy, save for Earth, of course.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The three gem matriarchs shared a message, the very same message Steven had given them. They told gemkind of this most wonderful holiday from Earth. They spoke of cheerful songs and celebration, of games and fun. They spoke of kindness and generosity, of love and family. They spoke of the ultimate symbol that embodied that which Christmas was truly about; Santa Claus. An inspiration to all of humanity to be a little kinder towards each other.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Throughout the galaxy, gems were in awe. To think… truly, only on Earth could they ever think of something like this. The gems that had lived their entire life under the harsh rule of the Diamond Authority before Steven ushered in the new Era could hardly imagine such unconditional kindness from even one person, let alone it being the basis of an entire holiday celebrated by humans all over the Earth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Finally, the Diamonds revealed their grand plan to make Santa Claus real. They, the gems that had once intended to conquer that pale blue dot, would be the ones to deliver gifts to all of humanity!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The idea was met with joyous cheers, applause, and many gems exclaiming ”Merry Christmas!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Merry Christmas!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year too!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But everyone was not so happy.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was someone on Homeworld who was crying. Someone who saw Christmas from another perspective. Someone who was alone as the shadows returned once again and darkened her thoughts, soul, and life.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Somewhere on Homeworld, tears turned to ice.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A shorter chapter today, there’ll be a few of those… but most chapters will be much longer, don’t you worry.</p>
<p>That last little part was inspired (stolen) by a song called Jul by Snowstorm. It’s a really good song. It’s on the Sad and Depressing side of things, but still very good.</p>
<p>See you tomorrow for the next chapter where things… heat up a little.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Dropship Drop</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 3: Dropship Drop</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Space.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 3rd.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Like a well maintained and finely tuned machine, the Diamonds’ grand plan was set in motion. Of course, after the beginning of Era 3, the Diamonds no longer possessed any authority to force any gems to obey their orders… though, for this particular venture, it wasn’t needed. Trillions upon trillions of gems volunteered to assist of their own free will. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Factories that once built weapons were making toys and trinkets. Mines and forges that once produced the raw material used to build war machines were creating exquisite gifts from precious metals. Spaceships once used to conquer planets were being refurbished to haul enormous quantities of gifts. Soldiers that once invaded were being trained to deliver gifts.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They had just over three weeks to prepare, but the gem civilization was vast and had a lot of unoccupied workforces since their previously constant expansion was halted two years ago. Frankly, most gems were kinda relieved to have something to do.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">One of the countless examples could be found on a small colony called N1V-25. The colony was mostly known for its shipyards and production of spaceships. Now, the gems of this colony were putting their skills to good use. Over three hundred dropships were being remade and repurposed to serve a much nobler cause than they had before.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You are doing a great job,” Yellow Diamond praised the team of Bismuths responsible for applying the new red paint job. One of the many tips she had gotten from the ”Management for Dummies” book Steven lent her was to make sure her employees got plenty of compliments to help motivate them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Thanks a bunch!” The team leader was beaming with pride over her team. ”Just you wait my Diamond, we’ll have these babies up and flying in no ti-”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">KA-BOOM!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Bismuth was rudely interrupted by an enormous explosion.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow spun around and was met by the sight of a dropship set ablaze.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">What the… an accident? A malfunction? Or…?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">KA-BOOM!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A second explosion went off, destroying a large part of the ship’s landing gear. The giant saucer started tipping… right onto a crowd of gems standing underneath it, too terrified to move!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow rushed forward and caught the ship in one of her powerful hands before the gems underneath it were crushed and ground into dust. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. A small ship, a Roaming Eye. Moving away.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh no, you don’t!” she roared and sent a bolt of lightning towards the ship with her free hand before it had time to activate its warp engine. Yellow electricity danced on the ship’s surface, frying every piece of electronics on the inside, and hopefully poofing whatever gem was in there. The ship dropped like a rock and landed with a loud clang on the ground.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With a small grunt, Yellow grabbed the dropship with both of her hands and hauled it into the air. She then set it down again. easier said than done, as she had to be careful not to damage any of the other ships strewn about the large shipyard, nor crush any of the small gems running around.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Is everyone alright?” she asked the group of gems that had been standing underneath the dropship when it exploded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Y-yes, thanks to you,” a Peridot said, shaking. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Was there anyone on the ship?” Yellow asked.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No, I don’t think so,” the Peridot said. ”These ships should all be empty.” She adjusted her oversized visor nervously. ”What even happened? Did the reactor malfunction?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Last time I checked, most dropships don’t have their reactors anywhere close to their landing gear,” Yellow said grimly. ”And most of them don’t explode twice. No, this was an attack.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She walked over to the wreckage of the ship she blasted out of the sky. A large group of gems had formed around it, several of them trying to force the door open. Yellow picked the Roaming Eye up and tore the door, alongside a chunk of the outside wall from the ship. She peeked inside but didn’t find anything except burned computer consoles. That and… something written on one of the walls.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her fist shook with rage and she accidentally crushed the ship in her hand. It crumpled like a piece of tinfoil.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Increase security immediately!” Yellow barked. ”I want it doubled, no, tripled! Guards, sweep the area! No one gets off this planet until we find the one responsible for this!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The gems around her sprung into action. Yellow Diamond took a sharp breath. The words burned into the inner wall of the ship still danced before her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">HatrEd and spite untold<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">the daRkneSs of yOUr ways oLd<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">here to take away your joy<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">chrIStmas i will destRoy</span><br/>

  <span class="s1">with glEe the chaos i sow<br/>
</span>
  <span class="s1">i am the winter shaDow</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The Winter Shadow, the Winter Shadow… such a mysterious character. Let’s see if any of you can guess who it is. You’ve got nineteen days until it is sorta revealed in chapter 22. Twenty days for the official reveal in chapter 23. You’ll see what I mean once we get there.</p>
<p>Unless I change my mind about chapter 22, it’s not done yet… I probably won’t though.</p>
<p>If it seems like I’m inconsistent with what times of day I upload these, it’s because I am. Sorry.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. This Means (Snowball) War! Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 4: This Means (Snowball) War! Part 1</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Meanwhile, on Earth…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 4th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blissfully unaware of the drama going on in space, Steven woke up to the ugly cry of the alarm clock and stumbled to his feet.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…cold,” he mumbled to himself while still yawning. He stumbled over the windows and pulled aside the curtains, letting inside the pale white light of the winter sun reflected on the snow outside.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">His lips widened into a smile at the sight. He knew exactly what he would be doing today.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Approximately one hour and six minutes later, Steven had gathered the core Crystal Gems alongside Connie and the B-Team outside on a large snow-covered field. He had divided the normally united group into two factions standing lined up and facing each other. On one side the core team, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. On the other, Connie, Bismuth, Peridot, and Lapis. Steven was walking back and forth between the two lines, looking very serious.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A sudden cold front had hit Beach City, and Both Connie and Steven were wearing thick winter clothes to shield them from the unforgiving freezing wind. While the cold didn’t really bother the gems, the core team had decided to shapeshift up some winter clothes, just for solidarity’s sake. The B-Team had decided not to bother, though Peridot had thrown on a Camp Pining Heart scarf for aesthetic purposes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”As you can all see…” Steven said dramatically, his breath forming a white cloud the second it left his mouth. ”…snow has fallen. I trust you all understand what this means?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”It’s a natural phenomenon that occurs on Earth sometimes when it gets cold?” Peridot said hesitantly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No!” Steven exclaimed. ”Or, well, yeah, that’s also right. But I was thinking of… snowball fights!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”A…snowball fight?” Bismuth asked, confused. She’d been in plenty of fights, but never against snowballs.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Indeed!” Steven said. ”It’s a game where you throw balls of snow at each other,” he explained.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”But why though?” Peridot asked.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven shrugged. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Cause it’s fun?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot raised her eyebrow. She experimentally took some snow from the ground and shaped it into a crude ball. She chucked it at Garnet’s leg.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ha! You’re right, this is fun!” she exclaimed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Pelting people with ice does sound pretty funny…” Lapis said thoughtfully.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I think I can get behind this idea,” Bismuth said with a smile. She had an idea of where this was going.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Great!” Steven said. ”Because we’re gonna have a fight.” Suddenly, a far more sinister smirk crept across his face. He fell in line with the core Crystal Gems. ”Us versus you. We’ll play a round of capture the flag.” Pearl summoned two orange flags on long sticks from her gem and threw one to Connie who caught it easily.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The rules are simple,” Steven continued. ”Each team will construct a snow fortress at each end of the field, about twenty-four meters apart. We get twenty minutes to do so. We’ll place our flags inside the fortress. The objective is to capture the other team’s flag and bring it back to your own fortress. The first person to touch their own fortress while holding the opposite team’s flag wins. It’s as simple as that. If anyone from the opposite team hits you with a snowball, you have to walk over to that tree by the side of the field at normal walking pace. You place your hand on the tree and count to twelve. Slowly. After that, you can rejoin the fight.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He looked everyone in the B-Team in the eye, one by one.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You are allowed to block incoming snowballs with your hands, but if they hit you anywhere else, it counts. Only one person may stay in the fortress at once. If someone carrying the flag gets hit, they have to drop the flag to the ground where they’re standing.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He made a dramatic pause.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Do you understand and accept these rules?” he asked.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yessir!” the B-Team said in perfect unison.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Good!” Steven said and clapped his gloved hands together. ”Then let the Crystal Gems’ first annual snowball fight… begin!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Thusly began the twenty minutes of preparation. The B-Team quickly hurried off to their end of the field, Connie rapidly going through tactics. The Core Team stayed and started the construction of their fortress. It was a rather simple construction, just some walls of packed together snow. Steven summoned and placed some shields on the walls, just for that extra bit of flair.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Once the fortress was finished, they huddled up inside it to discuss tactics. They decided Pearl would stay in the fortress as a guardian, while the others made up the advance team.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey Steven, are you sure this is fair?” Pearl asked while rolling a perfect snowball. She placed it in a neat pile. Ammo for later. ”I mean, we’ve played with you before, and so has Connie. But Lapis, Bismuth, and Peridot have never played this game before.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, I’m sure they’ll do just fine,” Steven said. ”I mean, they’re Crystal Gems too. And they’ve got Connie!” </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A small egg timer rang. The twenty minutes were up. Now it was time for battle.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Alright!” Steven yelled. The Core Team stood up in unison and turned to face their former allies. ”Ready or not, let’s… begin…” He lost some of his gusto towards the end of the sentence when he saw the B-Team’s fortress.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">On the other side of the field stood a gigantic fortress. Not just a glorified wall of snow, but an actual fortress made from snow and ice. It had steep walls and a mighty watchtower hat must’ve been at least fifteen meters tall. It even had a freaking moat! Filled with sharp icicles!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Bismuth and Connie stood up in the tower, the latter smirking smugly. Lapis and Peridot were hovering over the fortress, Lapis with her wings and Peridot on what looked like a large cannon.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey Steven…” Amethyst said nervously while tugging at his arm. ”Remind me again. Was there a rule against using our gem powers, or-”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven didn’t answer. Lapis did. With a small, almost lazy gesture of her hand, she levitated about three dozen snowballs into the air.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Aw shoot.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To be continued…</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh boy, this’ll be so much fun! I’m sure no one is gonna take this game WAY too seriously.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. This Means (Snowball) War! Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 5: This Means (Snowball) War! Part 2</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yeah, we were just about done over here, how about you?” Bismuth yelled from across the field, a wide grin plastered on her face. ”Are you ready, or do you need a minute?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Why you cheeky little…” Pearl muttered through clenched teeth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We’re as ready as can be!” Steven shouted back. To his team, he whispered: ”Pearl, as we discussed. Stay here and guard the flag. Garnet, Amethyst, you keep them busy while I go for the flag. That sound good?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yessir!” his team whispered back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Alright then, let’s go!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With a mighty battle cry, the Crystal Gems core team charged into battle as they had done so many times before. They had faced many difficult challenges together and come out on top, but this one might just prove to be their toughest yet.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">At the sight of her frenemies charging towards her, Bismuth laughed madly and jumped from the tower. She landed like a small meteorite and stirred up a large cloud of snow. Like a wild rhino, she rushed forward. She transformed her hands into large ice cream scoops. She scooped up some snow and launched two big snowballs at Amethyst.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Amethyst swiftly dodged and countered with a snowball of her own. Smaller, but with more precision. It hit Bismuth in the chest with a small ”poff.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Aw shucks!” Bismuth cursed, sounding none the more disappointed. ”Well, I did my best.” With her head hanging low, she started walking slowly towards the tree to the side of the field.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven shot a look back to Pearl, who was peeking out from behind the wall. They nodded towards each other in understanding.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He turned his attention back to the fight in front of him and not a moment too soon. A massive volley of snowballs was sailing towards him through the air. He managed to jump out of the way, narrowly avoiding the hailstorm with only a few millimeters to spare.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Nyahahaha! Behold!” a certain green space dorito laughed and exclaimed. Peridot was balancing on top of her large cannon, hovering high above the field. ”The latest achievement of my genius! The Snowcaster M1 1000!” She hit a button with her foot and the cannon fired another volley. ”It is called that because it’s casts snow, is the first model, and can fire up to one thousand snowballs per minute!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">While Steven was sure the technical aspects of Peridot’s snow cannon were very impressive, at that particular moment, he wasn’t all that interested in hearing them. He was more concerned with not getting buried under a hundred snowballs.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He jumped to the left, took a step backward, weaved to the right… then he slipped and fell!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Nyehehehe… Now perish!” Peridot yelled. She then giggled and looked very pleased with herself. ”Get it? Perish? Peri-sh? Cause my name is Peri-dot?” She looked around and saw that no one was impressed with her peri-puns. ”Whatever,” she muttered and hit the button. The cannon fired once again and sent a hundred snowball towards the defenseless Steven lying on the ground.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">At the last second, he was pushed aside by a familiar purple shorty.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Meh, five out of ten pun,” Amethyst said, dusting some snowflakes from her hair. She threw a snowball towards Peridot.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ha! Your futile attempts at attacking me are, er… futile!” Peridot yelled. She waved dramatically. ”Behold my invincible magnetic shield!” Several trash can lids danced around in the air. Amethyst’s snowball hit one of them with a pathetic ”poff.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Steven, go,” Amethyst mumbled to her teammate. ”Get to the fortress and take the flag. I can handle her.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”A-are you sure?” Steven asked, eyeing the enormous snow cannon.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yeah, I got this bro,” Amethyst said confidently. ”Now go!” She pushed Steven in the direction of the B-Team’s fortress.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”If you say so,” Steven said and started running.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey, get back here!” Peridot yelled from above. ”I’m not gonna let you get away from me so easily!” She aimed her cannon towards Steven.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Amethyst took her chance to throw a snowball at her… only for Peridot to casually block it with her trash can lid shields again.¨</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hmph. Very well then,” she said, turning back towards Amethyst. ”If you so wish to fight me, then I shall comply. Be prepared to meet your doom at the hands of the Snowcaster M1 1000!” she yelled and stomped her foot down on the firing button. The large cannon coughed and sputtered for a second, dropping some bolts from the underside. ”Um… it’s a prototype,” Peridot mumbled and pressed the button again, a bit more gently this time.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A volley of snowballs flew from the cannon and towards the ground. Amethyst jumped out of the way. She ran in a zig-zagging pattern, trying to avoid the next few volleys Peridot fired while cackling like a mad gem.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Muahahaha! Run! It’s the only thing you can do!” Peridot laughed, stopping her constant snowball barrages to gloat. She was having a blast blasting snowblasts from her snow blaster cannon.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh yeah? How about this!?” Amethyst yelled back and threw a single snowball as hard as she could. It sailed past Peridot uselessly. She didn’t even bother raising her trash can shields.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh wow,” she said, a bemused look on her face. ”That wasn’t even close. Were you even trying?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Try this!” Amethyst retorted. She rolled up into a ball and spin dashed around the battlefield, right through the piles of snowballs left by Peridot’s cannon. The snowballs were launched back up into the air, right back at their creator.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ha! Clever!” Peridot said. ”But not clever enough! Luckily, my invincible magnetic shield will protect me!” She waved wildly, summoning her trash can lids to her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That was when something hit her in the back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”W-what!?” Peridot yelled in surprise. ”I-impossible!” she stuttered, teetering on top of her cannon. Her arms spun around as she tried to regain her balance. However, for as gifted as she was in other fields, balance was not one of Peridot’s stronger attributes. She fell from her cannon and landed face-first in a pile of snow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Gah!” she gasped as she pulled her head from the white snow. ”How!?” she demanded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You got hit, dude,” Amethyst said. She nodded towards the snowball that had hit Peridot in the back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot muttered angrily and picked it up. It felt… off. She crushed it in her hand and found something hard inside of the soft snow. A metal bolt.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The event replayed in her head. While Amethyst was running around before… she must’ve picked up one of the bolts the cannon dropped and put inside the snowball. When she threw the snowball, she made sure to intentionally miss. When Peridot was summoning her trash can lids to shield herself, her magnetic powers pulled the snowball with the metal bolt back towards her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey! Cheating!” Peridot yelled. ”That doesn’t count! You didn’t hit me, I hit myself!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Eh, that’s fair,” Amethyst said with a shrug. She lackadaisically chucked another snowball at Peridot. This one hit the green gem right in the forehead, covering her gem and visor in snow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot cursed violently. Well, violently by gem standards. To a human, it probably sounded like she was just listing of various geological jargon. She started walking towards the tree while trying to wipe half-melted snow from the visor with her scarf, which only made it worse.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hot dang, I sure am awesome,” Amethyst verbally patted herself on the back. It was at that moment a dozen snowballs hit her and sent her flying back. The last this she saw before her vision was obscured by blinding white snow was a flash of blue.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Lapis Lazuli!” Amethyst cried as she crashed to the ground.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The water witch smiled. Now it was her turn to have some fun.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To Be Continued…</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>”She was having a blast blasting snowblasts from her snow blaster cannon.”</p>
<p>I let myself have way too much fun sometimes.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. This Means (Snowball) War! Part 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 6: This Means (Snowball) War! Part 3</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Amethyst, no!” Steven cried, watching his friends go flying through the air.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lapis laughed mercilessly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hehehe… Too easy,” she chuckled evilly. She was hovering high up in the air, carried into the sky by her water wings. There was a mad grin on her face as she raised her hand, and along with it, two dozen snowballs. ”And now it’s your turn! Snowball Splash!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She blasted the snowballs towards Steven at a terrifying speed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Garnet jumped in, blocking the snowballs with a series of rapid punches with her gauntlets.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Steven, run!” she yelled. ”Get the flag!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Garnet, you can’t take Lapis on your own!” Steven said desperately. ”She’s too powerful, even for you!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”GO!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”B-but-”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Without saying another word, Garnet lifted Steven by the scruff of his jacket and threw him towards the B-Team’s fortress. And so, for the second time since this war started, Steven was forced to leave a friend facing insurmountable odds alone. Steely resolve filled his soul. Their sacrifices would not be in vain!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Lapis tutted. ”You intend to take me on alone?” The blue gem hovered above Garnet, looking down on her both literally and figuratively. ”Even though Steven was trying to warn you so desperately, like a student frantically trying to answer the last question on their exam the minute before the chime? Despite his pleas not to, you still intend to face me alone?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Garnet smiled. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I’m never alone,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lapis lifted a pile of snow into the air. ”One, two, or a hundred,” she said coldly. ”It doesn’t matter how many. This is my element. No gem can beat me here.” The pile of snow quivered and several snowballs shot from it, going faster than most humans would be able to see. Not faster than Garnet, however. She blocked every snowball with her gauntlets.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Take it from someone who can see the future,” she said with a smirk. ”Just two gems will be enough to defeat you.” She threw a single snowball towards Lapis…. who easily stopped them with a gesture.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Pathetic,” she said. She spread her arms and flicked her hands upward. The snow beneath her obeyed and two snowbanks exploded into volleys of snowballs flying towards Garnet from each side. Garnet jumped into the air, flipping over and around to face the third volley of snowballs Lapis launched from behind her. The fusion grunted as she struggled to keep up with blocking them all. It was a close shave, but she managed to destroy them all, creating a cloud of fine snow dust that briefly obscured her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Suddenly, a snowball flew from the cloud, moving with deadly precision towards Lapis’ face!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lapis easily stopped it the microsecond before it hit her square between the eyes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Useless, useless,” she said with a smirk. She let it fall back down, where it landed at Garnet’s feet. The cloud of upset snow had settled now. Garnet looked small to Lapis from high up in the air, though she didn’t have any difficulty spotting her. All that red really stood out against the white snow. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”As fun as it would be to watch your feeble attempts at hitting me, I got a flag to capture,” Lapis said. She spread her arms and lifted them upwards. The entire field seemingly erupted, over two hundred snowballs jumping up and hovering momentarily in the air. Garnet was surrounded with no possible escape. Even if she could see all of the balls coming with her future vision, there was no way she’d be able to stop them all.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”This is my final attack!” Lapis said, some of Peridot’s overdramatic antics rubbing off on her. ”Twenty Meter Radius Snowball Splash!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Garnet didn’t stand a chance. She didn’t even bother fighting back. She just stood there and let hundreds of snowballs crash into her all at once. In only a few seconds, she was buried beneath an enormous pile of snow. Lesser gems would’ve been poofed under the tremendous force.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Silence fell upon the field.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Useless,” Lapis said to herself. ”Now, I better get to-HNGH!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was a cold sensation on her back, like a hand of ice squeezing her gem. Lapis Lazuli suddenly found herself falling. As she tumbled through the air, she saw another blue figure up in the sky. Was that… Sapphire!?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lapis landed on the ground. Her wings, frozen to ice, shattered upon impact. Sapphire calmly sunk back down to the Earth like a feather through the still air. She threw a single snowball towards Lapis, who was too discombobulated to stop it. It hit her with a soft ”poff.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”H-how?” Lapis groaned, massaging her sore butt after the rough crash landing. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sapphire smiled. The large pile of snowballs Lapis had thrown at Garnet only moments before started hissing and melting. Ruby stepped out of it. She gave Sapphire a quick kiss on the cheek before heading towards the tree.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The snow cloud,” Sapphire explained to Lapis. ”Garnet threw the snowball at your face. In your arrogance, you stopped it mere millimeters from your face. While you couldn’t see, I jumped into the air behind you and Ruby shapeshifted to look like Garnet.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”And then you froze my wings,” Lapis muttered. She stood up, stumbled, and nearly fell over again. ”Ow…” This wasn’t her worst crash landing, but it was up there as the most embarrassing. She started walking towards the tree. Slowly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sapphire started walking towards the B-Team’s fortress. She had looked into the future and saw what needed to be done. She would play her part in letting destiny play out. As long as Steven could capture the flag, the Core Team’s victory was all but guaranteed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">All Steven had to do was capture the flag from Connie. And Sapphire wasn’t sure that he could.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To Be Continued…</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Discombobulated is such a funny word, I love using it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. This Means (Snowball) War! Part 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 7: This Means (Snowball) War! Part 4</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven had finally made it. He ignored the sounds of the battle going on behind him and focused solely on the goal in front of him. The flag. He had to get the flag.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was time to end this.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He jumped into the air. His floating powers made Bismuth’s steep ice walls useless. He landed on the edge of the large tower. There were piles of snowballs strewn about on the platform. The flag was sat proudly at the opposite end of the tower… alongside Connie.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was sitting down, her legs crossed, eyes closed and her back against Steven. She was meditating before the fight.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You finally made it,” she said, not bothering to turn around. ”Took you long enough.” Despite her best tries at sounding stoic, there was still a twinge of playfulness in her voice. She was having a lot of fun, which was good.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, I ran into some trouble on the way,” Steven said casually. ”No biggie.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Connie snorted. She stood back up with slow, deliberate motions. She stretched her arms and legs. It would have been considerably easier if she wasn’t wearing a thick jacket and ski pants.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She grabbed a snowball from a pile on the floor. Steven did the same.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The two of them stood there as several long moments passed by. They eyed each other, waiting for the subtlest motion from the other to betray their next attack.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Connie broke the silence.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hiyah!” Instead of throwing the ball in her hand, she kicked one on the floor towards Steven! When Steven dodged, she lunged forward, holding the snowball in her hand outstretched towards him. Panicking, Steven reflexively grabbed her arm and used her own momentum to flip her into the air; much like she had done on multiple occasions.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In other circumstances, this might’ve not been such a bad move. However, in these circumstances, it was a very bad move. Steven was still standing close to the edge of the tower and he suddenly found himself almost throwing his own friend from a high tower.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven fell over and was nearly dragged down from the tower with Connie. Thankfully, his not inconsiderable bulk kept him from being dragged down. He gripped Connie’s hand hard to prevent her from falling.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”S-sorry!” he yelled.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No biggie,” Connie yelled back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Listen, I’m gonna lift you back up,” Steven said. He grabbed a snowball with his free hand. ”As soon as I’ve thrown this snowball at you!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He didn’t get the chance to throw the snowball, however. While he was reaching for the snowball, Connie reached for a pocket on her ski pants. She pulled out a knife and stabbed it deep into the wall above her. With a grunt, she freed her arm from Steven’s grip and swung herself back up on the tower.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey that…” Steven started saying something before he interrupted himself. ”W-wait a minute, was that a knife?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…yes,” Connie said, standing back up slowly. Steven jumped back up on his feet as well.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Were you carrying around a knife in your pocket this entire time?” he asked. Connie winced.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…yes,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Why!?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…in case I need to cut some fruit?” As far as bad excuses went, it might not be the worst one, but it was up there.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Do you have any more knives on you?” Steven demanded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No!” Connie said, before hesitating a little. ”Well, I… do throwing knives count?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh. Well, I got two throwing knives in my boot,” Connie said, taking the knives out of their special sheaths Pearl had helped her sow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Anything else?” Steven said suspiciously, eyeing Connie for any more hidden pockets.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No. No more knives,” Connie said, which was technically true. She didn’t have any more knives on her. Really.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Good,” Steven said, massaging his temple with one hand. ”Becau- hyah!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He suddenly threw the snowball he was holding at Connie, who easily blocked it with one swift hand.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’ll have to do better than that,” she said with a small smirk, taking a martial arts stance. She then glanced out on the snowy field below. Her smirk grew wider. ”Although I suppose it really doesn’t matter,” she said, smug as a can be. ”Cause the B-Team’s victory has been all but guaranteed!” she said triumphantly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, you mean the tunnel?” Steven said while pretending to examine his nails (purely for theatrics; he was wearing gloves).</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Connie’s world shattered around her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”W-what?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Meanwhile, over at the Core Team’s fortress… or rather, underneath it…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”And that makes fifteen meters,” bismuth whispered to herself. According to Peridot’s calculations, she’d be directly beneath the spot where the Core Team most likely kept their flag.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Connie was one clever girl, coming up with this brilliant plan in such a short time. Bismuth made sure she got tagged first. Then, while everyone was distracted on the battlefield, she’d dig a tunnel from the punishment tree to the Core Team’s fortress. All she had to do now was burst out of the ground, hit Pearl, take the flag, and make it back to the B-Team’s fortress. Easy peasy.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Huarg!” Bismuth burst from the ground like a violent spring flower. She lobbed a snowball towards Pearl… only there was no Pearl to hit. There was no flag either.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Something cold hit Bismuth in the back of her head and she heard Pearl giggling smugly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Nice try,” she said, prancing into view from behind Bismuth. ”Better luck next time.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Darn it,” Bismuth muttered.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Currently, at the B-Team’s fortress…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Connie cursed something fierce. Well, fierce for a character from a cartoon show aimed at kids anyway. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Y-you saw through my plan…?” she stammered.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yeah,” Steven said, feeling the crushing guilt of crushing his crush’s hopes and dreams. ”Anyways, I gotta get back to my own fortress, so I’ll just take this flag…"</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh no, you don’t !” Connie yelled. She swept up a snowball from the floor and threw it towards him, but Steven punched it in mid-air. He lunged towards the flag, but Connie tripped him. He stumbled but managed to pluck the flag from where it was at.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Before he could jump off, Connie grabbed the flag.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’ll have to pry this from my cold dead body!” she said through gritted teeth as they both tugged at the stick. Steven grabbed only the flag and broke it off the stick.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No thanks,” he said. He jumped into the air, floating slowly away from the tower.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Connie roared and grabbed a snowball and readied to throw it with deadly precision. But she never got the chance to throw it. Another snowball thrown from the ground hit her square in the chest. From that angle, there was no way anyone could see her from down there. Unless that person happened to have future vision.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Good throw, Sapphire,” Steven said as he landed next to the blue gem. ”But, uh… are you sure this doesn’t count as cheating?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes,” Sapphire said. ”Now, I suggest we run. I foresee trouble if you do not reach our fortress within the next seventeen seconds.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven gulped and started running as fast as he could. It wasn’t fast enough.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Behind him, Connie leaped from the tower, grabbing the knife stuck in the wall and holding onto it as she slid down the icy wall. She landed on the ground and started sprinting towards the punishment tree.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Lapis! Peridot!” she yelled while running. ”Plan B! Do not let them win!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Aye aye captain!” Lapis and Peridot said in unison and sprung back into action.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot used her magnetic powers to turn her downed Snowcaster M1 1000 towards Steven. It fired a volley of a hundred snowballs at him, too fast for him to dodge!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Without hesitation, Sapphire pushed Steven out of the way and blocked the snowballs with her own body.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Sapph!” Ruby yelled. With an angry roar, she scooped up some snow to throw at Peridot… except she couldn’t. In her rage, she accidentally melted all the snow around her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Meanwhile, Lapis wasted no time. She ran towards the Core Team’s fortress as fast as she could. Not as fast as flying, but another blue gem had recently frozen her wings and she couldn’t get them to work again. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To her credit, Pearl did her best to defend the fortress. Unfortunately, her best wasn’t enough. Lapis blocked the snowball Pearl threw at her and then made the entire Core Team’s fortress explode into a cascade of snowballs. She grabbed the flag, turned around, and started running… only to be hit with a snowball in the back, courtesy of Amethyst.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lapis dropped the flag to the ground.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Peridot!” she shouted. ”It’s up to you now!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The green gem swooped down, riding on top of one of her trash can lids. She grabbed the flag and zoomed off towards the B-Team fortress. She didn’t even have time to boast or make a quip.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hurry, Peridot!” Connie yelled from the punishment tree. ”Show them the power of the B-Team!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven only had seconds now. Peridot was a lot faster on her lid than he was on foot, but he was closer… he just had to push forward a little more… go a little faster…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A large shadow loomed over their heads, causing Steven and Peridot both to stop dead in their tracks. So did everyone. They looked up, stunned. No one had time to take cover.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A veritable meteor of snow crashed down, covering the entire battlefield in an avalanche from the sky.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Silence fell over the field. The only thing except for snow was two small flags. A pair of enormous fingers plucked them from the snow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Did we win?” Blue Diamond asked hesitantly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I think so,” White said. ”But we should probably ask Steven. She reached down into the pile of snow and plucked Steven out of it by his leg. ”Hey Steven, did we win this competition?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…sure,” Steven muttered, spitting out some snow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yay!” Blue squeed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I like this game,” Yellow laughed. ”It was so much fun, we should play it again!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…maybe some other day,” Steven said, still dangling upside down. ”I think we’ve had enough snowball fighting for today.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Aww…” the Diamonds sighed together.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh well,” White said. ”We could always teach the gems back on Homeworld to play.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ooh, I bet the quartzes would love it!” Blue said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes, but we’d have to find a way to get it to snow fir-”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”ACHOO!” </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow Diamond was very rudely interrupted by Steven sneezing loudly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A Few Hours Later…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was dark outside and it had started snowing again. You could hardly see a thing for all the snow that was falling and it just kept on coming more and more and more.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Crystal Gems’ First Annual Snowball Fight ended in a tie. Steven and Connie both found themselves too sick to continue. The cold seemed to drill itself into the very cores of their bones and refused to leave. They found themselves spending the rest of the day huddled up together under a blanket in front of the fireplace sipping hot mulled wine (non-alcoholic, of course).</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In a way, even though neither team won, everyone seemed strangely satisfied. Almost as if the fun they had along the way was more important than winning.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The End… or is it?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Steven: ”Let me see what you have.”<br/>Connie: ”A knife!”<br/>Steven: ”No!”</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Snow on Homeworld</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 8: Snow on Homeworld</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A Few Days Later Back on Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 8th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Operations were going smoothly back on Homeworld, despite the need to increase the security at all sites should the Winter Shadow attempt another attack.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As always, the Diamonds brought something new with them from their visits to Earth. This time it was ”snow.” Not that gems didn’t know of snow. But they didn’t know that you could play in it. This was a huge development and made the gems that originated from frozen colonies hold their heads up a little higher. Even more so the Larimars, Snowflake Obsidians, and Sapphires. Some of them got downright obnoxious when bragging about how they had been digging through ice and snow thousands of years before it was cool.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And yes, most of them didn’t even realize they made that pun. No matter how much the Lapis Lazulis teased them about it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Anyways, there was a huge demand to get snow on Homeworld as well. Which was both easy and difficult. Making it snow? Easy. Give two dozen Lapis Lazulis two hours and they’d cover the planet in snow. If you made it sound like a challenge, they’d do it in one and a half.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The hard part was getting the snow to stay there. Homeworld didn’t really have a winter season and the overall global temperature was, by human standards, fairly temperate. With any luck, the snow would last for maybe an hour before it turned into slush. And as a lot of gems came to discover, slush was just about the worst thing in the universe.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">So how do you lower the global temperature of an entire planet (preferably without moving it out of orbit)?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The solution turned out to be rather simple. The Dark Cloud.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Despite the sinister name, The Dark Cloud was actually not all that malicious. It was a tool developed to be used during mining operations on asteroids or planetoids that were a bit too close to their star. Excessive amounts of sunlight and solar radiation could mess with sensors, electric equipment, or even simple eyesight. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Dark Cloud was a pretty simple invention all things considered. In theory, it was as simple as putting a layer of dust made from pitch black particles in orbit around the asteroid or planetoid you were working on. The dust let through some light, but still blocked most of the detrimental radiation. The best part was that there was a readily abundant source of black dust from the factories that produced the syn-crystals that made up a large portion of gem technology. All you had to do was to load up enormous containers with the space-age equivalent of sawdust. Pack it together and place some concussive explosions in it. Let them out into orbit, detonate the explosives and let gravity do the rest of the work. The only downside was that the dust particles would heat up and decay sooner or later. So The Dark Cloud was mostly used on quick mining operations to extract some rare resource. A second generation called The Silver Cloud had been proposed using a reflective material instead. That one was a lot more expensive to create but could last a lot longer.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Of course, the fact The Dark Cloud would decay after a while suited Homeworld just fine. They wanted a winter, not an ice age.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With The Dark Cloud in orbit, the global temperature lowered quickly. Within three days of the Diamonds’ return from Earth, Homeworld was covered in snow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was a beautiful sight to behold. The days were dimmer and grayer, but it made all the light seem so much warmer and brighter. Every building was covered in thin layers of snow and frost, like cakes dusted with powdered sugar. Occasionally, a ray of sunshine made it through the clouds and it made everything sparkle as if the starry sky had fallen down to the ground. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The streets were buried in snow. Some of the shorter gems completely disappeared in it and had to let bigger and bulkier gems walk in front of them to clear the way. Everywhere you looked, you could find quartzes and a few other gems playing snowball fighting. It didn’t take long for gems to start putting up their own lights and decorations that lit up the now very dark nights.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was enchanting. It was beautiful. It was…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was a terrible idea.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White Diamond came to this realization a little too late. Sure, the white snow was enchanting in its beauty, much like White herself. But, ah… it did have the unfortunate side effect of making her blend into the background whenever she was out and walking.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She had been hit by not less than twelve low-flying ships and hover vehicles. Twelve! Seriously, did gems not watch where they were going? Even worse, no one ever let her play in the snowball fights! They said it would be ”cheating.” What rubbish! She only had two hands, but some of the fusions they let play with them had four! And she hated the feeling of the cold, wet snow on her exposed toes whenever she accidentally stepped in a particularly deep snowbank. And this one time when she tried to make a ”snow angle,” she nearly crushed several gems, and it was apparently her fault that they didn’t move out of the way. And this other time…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Then again,” White sighed to herself. She was sitting down on a rooftop, watching a game of snowball fighting. Spinel had invited a couple of Quartzes to fight. A dozen big and burly soldiers against her, Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl. You really had to feel bad for those poor Quartz soldiers. ”All the little gems seem to have so much fun…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">So she kept her complaints to herself. Seeing others be happy made her happy and that was enough for her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She would not be so happy if she knew what was going on in one of the old laboratories only a couple of kilometers away at that very moment. But that’s a story for another day. Tomorrow, to be more specific.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun Fact: I really did misspell snow angel, but the typo worked with the joke, so I kept it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Frosty the Snowgem</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 9: Frosty the Snowgem</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">On Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 9th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow Diamond was annoyed like you wouldn’t believe.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Scratch that, ”annoyed” wasn’t the right word. It was more like a cross between a sort of annoyed anger and utter bewilderment.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Explain yourself,” she said through gritted teeth. ”What is this?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Someone let the kindergarteners listen to Frosty the Snowman. Not a sentence that would fill most humans with a sense of impending terror. But these weren’t humans. These were gem kindergarteners; Scientists whose expertise was in bringing inanimate rocks to life as gems. A bunch of <em>bored</em> scientists whose expertise was in bringing inanimate rocks to life as gems.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”This is Frosty!” the head kindergartener said proudly. She was a tall Era 1 Peridot that previously belonged to Yellow’s own court. Peridot ST3-1N. From certain angles, if the light hit it right, you could spot a streak in her hair that looked a bit like a lightning bolt. ”Frosty the Snowgem!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She gestured enthusiastically towards the… thing. Several other kindergartener gems stood behind her, giving thumbs up.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The… creature was… well, it certainly was something that existed. It resembled what most people on Earth would call a snowman. Three large snowballs stacked on top of each other, the biggest one underneath and the smallest one on top. There was a large ice crystal sticking out of its ”torso.” Several pieces of gem technology were sticking out of it at various places as well. It had a pair of limb enhancer arms and two dark camera lenses for eyes. Its nose was a large red button that looked like it had been ripped straight from the console and jammed into the snow. It had a large Santa hat on its head. A few wires and a couple of sharp edges visible under the fabric hinted at some undoubtedly haphazardly constructed machinery underneath. The entire construct was floating about a centimeter over the ground on top of a small hover tray. Hover trays were usually used to hold tools or other things, but some gems had taken to using them for flying around with after that Crystal Gem Peridot’s little show on her trash can lid.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The being was moving slowly, looking around with its dark camera eyes. It moved its floating arms and fingers, seemingly unaware of how to use them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”How?” Yellow demanded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”With science!” Peridot ST3-1N exclaimed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Science!” the other gems behind her called in unison.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Care to elaborate?” You could have ground lesser diamonds to dust between Yellow’s clenched teeth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Well, first we took some of your Diamond Essence…” Peridot ST3-1N started explaining.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You what?” Yellow interrupted her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We took some of your Diamond Essence…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You stole it, is what you mean,” Yellow corrected her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We stole some of your Diamond Essence and mixed it into some water which we froze to make an ice crystal,” Peridot ST3-1N said without missing a beat. ”Then we placed it in some cold water, added a few bits of technology, and boom! We have created new life!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow had to take several deep breaths to keep herself from poofing all of the beaming and proud-looking Peridots in front of her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Why?” she asked. ”Why did you feel the need to create this… this thing?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”His name is Frosty,” Peridot ST3-1N said, missing the point by about seven lightyears.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Besides, you Diamonds create life all the time,” another gem, Peridot FR4N-K3N, said loudly. ”So why can’t we?” The other kindergarteners nodded in agreement.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”And, ah… so when you created this new life… was it really necessary to run around the entire building screaming ’It’s alive! It’s alive!’ at the top of your lungs over and over again?” Yellow inquired calmly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes!” Peridot ST3-1N said. She wasn’t joking.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A very long minute passed by as Yellow contemplated the best course of action.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You know what?” she said finally. ”Maybe I’m overreacting.” She leaned down and looked ”Frosty” in the camera eyes. ”Hey. How’s life so far?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">No response.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, right!” Peridot ST3-1N said. She hurried up to Frosty and stuck something that might’ve looked a bit like a pipe to an Earthling into the snowgem’s face. ”The translator,” she explained. She smiled at her creation. ”Hello Frosty. Welcome to life.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Li-liiiife,” Frosty mumbled. Its voice was slightly mechanical and cold. Fitting, Yellow supposed. Peridot ST3-1N clapped her hands excitedly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You can speak!” she exclaimed. ”Good work, Frosty, mommy is so proud of you!” Behind her, the other kindergarteners joined in her excited hand clapping. They were so proud of their baby!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Speeeaaak?” Frosty said. ”Mo-mom…?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Say ’mama!’” Peridot ST3-1N said. ”Can you say ’mama?’”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Mama?” Frosty said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The group of kindergarteners practically exploded witch excited squees and chatter. Several of them were jumping up and down and clapping their hands.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Very good, Frosty!” Peridot ST3-1N said. ”Do you know who mama is? Can you point to mama?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Frosty slowly raised one of its… his arms. A shaky finger hovered in the air for a moment, indecisive, before finally pointing at Peridot ST3-1N.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”That’s right!” Peridot ST3-1N said. ”I’m your mama!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Wait a minute!” Peridot FR4N-K3N yelled. Suddenly, the group of kindergartener gems seemed a lot less excited than they had only moments before. ”I’m his mama too!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A shouting match erupted faster than most volcanoes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I’m his mama too!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Me too!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No way, I’m his true mama! I made his gem!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”So what? I made his body!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I stole the Diamond Essence and the gem shard dust! Without me, there’d be no Frosty! I’m his true mama!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I gave him his hat!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Big deal! I gave him his limb enhancers and his eyes!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">While the kindergarten gems were busy shouting at each other, their baby stood on the floor, utterly confused. For the first time in his short life, he felt sadness. There was a small spark behind his camera eyes and a few snowflakes melted into a tear that rolled down his face. It froze quickly again.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Yellow tutted. She reached out towards Frosty and let him jump into her hand.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Frosty…” he mumbled through his translator. ”Frosty… I… don’t like… when mamas fight.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”There, there,” Yellow said and patted the snowgem’s head, very, very carefully. ”Granny Yellow will make them stop.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She cleared her throat.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”SHUT IT!” she yelled, making the entire building shake with nothing but her voice. The kindergarten gems all froze in place. FR4N-K3N and ST3-1N were lying on the floor, wrestling with each other. Needless to say, they all shut it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Is this really the extent of your Christmas spirit?” Yellow chastised them. ”This is supposed to be a time for generosity, family, and love. Yet here you are. You have just created a new being together, new life. And the first thing you do in front of your baby’s eyes is fight. Pathetic.” The kindergarten gems all looked down at the floor in shame.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Now, you better get your shit together,” Yellow said. ”You’re all gonna have to share custody of Frosty. If you behave yourself, you can all celebrate Christmas together with Frosty. But if you’re incapable of acting like civilized gems, we’ll have to find another arrangement. So what’s it gonna be?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was silence for a few moments before some of the kindergartener gems started mumbling apologies to each other.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Sorry I hit you.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Sorry I called you a clod.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I’m sorry I said you weren’t really Frosty’s mama.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Maybe…” Peridot ST3-1N said slowly. ”Maybe… Frosty can have more than one mama?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes…” Peridot FR4N-K3N said. ”Perhaps… we can all be Frosty’s mama?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yeah… that’d be nice,” Peridot ST3-1N agreed. ”Well, only if he wants us to be…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The group of kindergartener gems looked up at Frosty where he stood in Yellow’s hand.’</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”What do you say, Frosty?” Yellow asked the snowgem. ”Do you wanna give them a chance?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Frosty nodded. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”If you say so,” Yellow said. ”But be sure to call me if they start fighting again, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes, granny Yellow,” Frosty said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow let him down back on the floor. He stood by her feet for a few moments. He and the group of kindergarteners both looked unsure of what to do now.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey Frosty,” said Peridot 1G-OR. She held out her arms. ”Do you wanna give us a hug?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Frosty nodded and started moving towards them, clumsily floating on top of his hover tray. He was embraced by about a dozen gems all at once.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Well, that just happened,” Yellow muttered to herself. ”I’ll leave you to it,” she said out loud to the very strange family in front of her. ”Good luck when he reaches his rebellious years. I hope it goes better for you than it did for us Diamonds.” Nothing like a little dark humor to wash away the sweet taste in her mouth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">No one responded, so Yellow decided to withdraw. Hopefully, the strange family would find some way to make it work. Had she been her normal cynical self, Yellow would’ve scoffed at the thought. Things rarely worked out as well as you wanted them to. But for some reason… a feeling in her gut area… Yellow felt like it might really work out.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow shook her head in disbelief. Only during Christmas. Only during Christmas.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is one of those ideas that I got while working and jotted down on a piece of cardboard. Really, it was just the name of the chapter and the ”someone let the kindergarteners listen to Frosty the Snowman.”</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The Lead</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 10: The Lead</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">On Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 10th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">YP&amp;BP’s News and Entertainment was currently the largest growing and most popular out of all new networks that had started popping up all over the empire’s interconnected information-sharing webs. Originally, it was just supposed to be a network for Steven and the Diamonds to make announcements to the rest of the galaxy. But Blue Pearl had slapped a logo of her and Yellow Pearl’s faces on the broadcast as a joke. Within a few weeks, demands were in for the return of YP&amp;BP’s News. Since then, the channel had grown to include not just daily news brought to you by Yellow and Blue Pearl themselves, but also various entertainment programming. Yellow Pearl had a cooking show, introducing ”foods” to all the gems out there. Blue Pearl had a show where she did painting while talking softly. There were several other programs, including Spinel doing stand-up comedy.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Still, the channel was primarily focused on news. The last nine days had been focused mostly on reporting the preparations for Operation Christmas. Of course, not all news were good news.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Reports have just come in that several explosives have been stolen from a Disarmament Unit here on Homeworld, alongside several weapons,” Yellow Pearl read from the teleprompter.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The thief left several messages behind,” Blue Pearl continued. ”It appears to be the same individual that responsible for the attack on N1V-25, who calls themselves the ’Winter Shadow.’”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Several images of the threatening messages burned directly into the walls showed up as holographic screens next to the two news anchors.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">a lie that you cheriSH<br/></span>
  <span class="s1">christmas shall pErISh <br/></span>
  <span class="s1">the truth you will sooN see<br/></span>
  <span class="s1">i am yOu Truly set Free</span><br/>
  <span class="s1">the dream wIll die<br/></span>
  <span class="s1">the winteR Shadow will end The lie</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Citizens are encouraged to stay vigilant and report any suspicious individuals or activity to their local law upholder office,” Blue Pearl continued.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”And that concludes today’s news report,” Yellow Pearl said. ”Next up, how do you impress a Jasper without defeating all other competition in combat? Join me and our panel of experts as we answer this and several other of our viewers’ questions on relationships and romance.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">About an hour or so after the above broadcast, the three Diamonds were gathered in one of the many enormous rooms inside of their palace. To say that the atmosphere was filled with unease was an understatement. White’s face was pulsating with anxious purple as she paced back and forth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Not good,” she said. ”Not good at all.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That too could be considered an understatement. The Winter Shadow had managed to sneak into one of the most well-guarded places on Homeworld, the Disarmament Unit that disposed of old weaponry. Not only that, but she had somehow managed to smuggle out enough explosives to blow a hole through a mountain.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We know,” Yellow said, getting ever so slightly irritated at White’s constant pacing. ”White, please calm down. This is not a time to panic. We have to think things through rationally and calmly.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Calm down?” White snapped. ”I’ll calm down once the Winter Shadow is captured!” Stripes of fiery red crept onto her face and she closed her fists tightly. It was not hard to imagine a gem trapped between her fingers being ground to dust.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blue put one hand on White’s shoulder. With the other hand, she conjured a small cloud of happiness and blew it towards her. Slowly, the red and purple faded from her face. The worried purple didn’t fully go away, but it became fainter, like a shadow on her face.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yellow is right,” Blue said softly. ”Please calm down.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White took several deep breaths and did her best to suppress the bubbling fear and anger within her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Sorry,” she said after a few seconds. ”It’s just… that message. Something about it… it got to me. And I just… I don’t understand why the Winter Shadow wants to destroy Christmas. Why would anyone want to ruin something so beautiful?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow and Blue both nodded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We get it,” Yellow said. ”I’m just as upset as you. But the fact is that the Winter Shadow has acquired several pieces of powerful weaponry. And getting angry or worked up is only going to distract us from actually capturing her.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’re right, of course,” White said. To think, barely two years earlier, and the mere idea of White ever admitting any fault was tantamount to blasphemy. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ahem,” said a smaller voice from down on the floor. The three Diamonds looked down and found a green gem entering through the smaller door into the room where they were standing.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Sorry if I’m interrupting something important,” the green gem said. ”Spinel told me you wouldn’t mind, and this is rather important…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The green gem was a Herderite. She was tall and lanky, with long limbs, a big head, and large bright eyes. Her fingers were long and nimble, and constantly moving, unconsciously typing out long algorithms in the air or on her leg. Her square gem was placed in her left eye socket.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Herderites were a type of tech gem that specialized in programming, analyzing, and storing information. Think of them as a cross between a librarian and a programmer.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No, not at all,” White said, absentmindedly reaching out to pick up the gem in her hand. ”What brings you here?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I can find the Winter Shadow,” Herderite said, cutting getting straight to the point.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Three pairs of immaculate eyebrows raised simultaneously.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”And how exactly would you go about that?” Yellow asked. She had worked with Herderites before and knew that they could get a bit full of themselves. Actually, that went for most tech gems. ”We’ve already tried to track the explosives.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">All weaponry that was being primed for disposal was sprayed with a radioactive tracker that could be detected from orbit. In theory, if as much as a single destabilizer made it outside the Disarmament Units, they’d be able to track it with millimeter precision. But the explosives the Winter Shadow had stolen hadn’t shown up on any scans. It was as if they had simply vanished into the dark.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Herderite scoffed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Pah! Peridot tech, no doubt. I wouldn’t trust them to track the sun in the sky.” She chuckled at her own joke. ”No, I didn’t say I was going to track the explosives, did I? I said I was going to find the Winter Shadow.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She tapped a pair of computers strapped to her wrists. A large holographic screen and a holographic keyboard appeared before her. She started typing as a large list of gem names were slowly scrolling past on the screen.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We may not know who the Winter Shadow really is, or even what type of gem she is,” Herderite started expositing. ”But what few gems realize is just how much information they leave behind them.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The warp records,” Yellow said. Whenever a gem used a warp pad, the information of who it was and where they were going was stored. It made it a lot easier to find a specific gem when she was needed for a mission or project.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Herderite nodded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Indeed. This is the list of gems that were on N1V-25 at the time of the attack,” she gestured towards the list scrolling by on the screen.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Which narrows it down to about five billion gems,” Yellow said while squinting and looking at the numbers on the screen.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ah, but we also know the Winter Shadow must’ve been back on Homweworld by now in order to steal the explosives,” Herderite said and fed some commands into the computer. They whirred and the number on the screen shrank dramatically to a few million.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I see,” White said. ”Let me guess, the next step is to see who out of these gems have access to the Disarmament Unit?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Correct,” Herderite said, smiling confidently. ”There were no signs of a break-in, so it must be someone who works at the Unit.” The list shrank again, now to a few dozen.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Herderite scanned the list with her sharp eyes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”There!” she exclaimed and tapped a name on the list. A second screen opened and showed the profile of an Era 2 Peridot. Peridot N07-H3R.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”What makes you think it’s her?” Blue asked while eyeing the profile. The Peridot seemed fairly normal and unremarkable from what she could see.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Well, for one thing, she’d probably know how to wash off the tracking spray,” Herderite said while without looking away from the screen she was working on. ”More importantly… she held up the screen so all the Diamonds could see. The screen was split in two, showing the field with the dropships on N1V-25 and the Disarmament Unit on Homeworld. On both maps was a blinking dot. ”I can track her limb enhancers! And she was at both crime scenes when it happened!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To be continued…</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Aw shoot, here we go again with the plot. Can’t have too much fun, now can we?</p>
<p>Also, I can’t believe I forgot this, I should’ve done it back in chapter one, but I only thought of it now…</p>
<p>As you’ve probably noticed, White’s face shifts color depending on her mood. Long story short, I saw it in a piece of fanart and thought it’d be fun. Here’s the explanation of what all the colors mean:</p>
<p>Pink-Embarrassment <br/>Red-Fiery red is anger, hatred, and wrath. Lighter red can symbolize love or passion.<br/>Yellow-Bright yellow is happiness or excitement.<br/>Orange-A combination of happy yellow and red passion; symbolizes determination.<br/>Green-Deep green is disgust while a paler green can be shame of guilt.<br/>Blue-Dark blue is sadness or depression. A lighter shade of blue can be indicative of deep thought, concentration or introversion.<br/>Purple-Fear, worry, or anxiety.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Trap</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 11: The Trap</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">On Homeworld, beneath the surface…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 10th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot N07-H3R was making her way back home after work. Her home was a small apartment that had been hastily built alongside a few million identical modules stacked together wherever you could fit them. After Era 3 introduced such concepts as ”individuality” and ”worker’s rights,” a lot of gems found that they wanted a ”home,” a place to call their own. However, since the surface of Homeworld was already so jam-packed, the living modules had to be built wherever they could fit. Which was mostly beneath the surface, in the old kindergartens.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. Most gems were ecstatic just to have a home, even if it basically amounted to slightly fancier student apartments.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot N07-H3R loved her home. It was small but comfy. Some gems liked to try out sleeping and eating, so they kept beds and kitchens, but Peridot N07-H3R wasn’t really into that stuff. Instead, she had taken to keeping plants. She especially liked grass from Earth. She had managed to grow a small lawn inside her apartment, as well as install a sprinkler system that simulated rain. Few things were as satisfying to her as feeling the rain hit her face or feel the grass between her toes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She arrived at her apartment. A small scanner on the door flashed and identified her gem on her shoulder. The door slid aside and she entered. She stopped right on the doorstep.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The back wall of her apartment was missing. Instead of the wall, there were three pairs of giant eyes staring at her. They looked very angry.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Eep!” Peridot N07-H3R yelped and stumbled backward. Before she could turn around and bolt away, an enormous white hand with sharp nails reached out for her. The hand grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, pinching hard.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was lifted outside of her apartment and hoisted high up into the air. Outside stood three ladies she recognized immediately. What gem wouldn’t? It was the Diamonds. She noticed there was a smaller green gem standing on Yellow Diamond’s shoulder, but she was too busy panicking to care.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Uahh!” Peridot howled and tried to grab ahold of White Diamond’s fingers with her hands. The ground far below her was hard and unforgiving. Would she survive if she fell? Maybe. Would it hurt? Definitely. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ha! Not so cocky now, are we?” White Diamond said triumphantly. She shook the terrified Peridot a little. ”Now, where are they?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Wh-what is going on!?” Peridot N07-H3R yelled. ”What are you talking about!?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, don’t play dumb!” White Diamond snarled. ”It’s over, Winter Shadow! You’ve been caught! Now, where are the explosives?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I-I… What?” The overwhelming panic and fear within Peridot N07-H3R were replaced with a stunned confusion. ”The Winter Shadow? But-but… I’m not the Winter Shadow?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Is that so?” said a very smug voice. It was the green gem standing on Yellow Diamond’s shoulder. Peridot N07-H3R’s eyes narrowed when she recognized that gem type. She still wasn’t sure what was going on, but it somehow made more sense once she knew there was a Herderite behind this.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In case you didn’t know, Peridot’s and Herderites absolutely hate each other. They are bitter enemies and have been for as long as anyone can remember. The only thing they ever agree on is their mutual hatred of Demantoids and that’s it. Put two of them in the same room, and the best-case scenario is that they’ll just shout insults at each other until you break them up. Worst case scenario… well, we don’t have time to go into that right now. Ask me about the Green Machine Incident sometime.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Herderite brought up a holographic screen and enlarged it so Peridot N07-H3R could see it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Then how come you were both crime scenes as they happened?” she asked rhetorically. Well, the question was rhetoric from her perspective, as she thought she knew the answer already.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I was not!” Peridot N07-H3R exclaimed. ”That’s not me!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”It is too!” Herderite yelled back. ”It’s your name here, and the Archives don’t lie! Unlike certain gems.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”That’s not me,” Peridot N07-H3R insisted. ”Those are my limb enhancers!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Well, duh!” Herderite said. ”Of course, that’s how we were… able to… track you…” he sentence trailed off as she noticed something. Peridot N07-H3R was making a very rude gesture with her fingers. Her fingers on her hand. Not the floating fingers of a pair of limb enhancers.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Because she wasn’t wearing her limb enhancers.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Now it was Peridot N07-H3R’s turn to smile smugly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”That’s right,” she said. ”My limb enhancers were stolen almost two weeks ago. I even reported it to the Law Enforcement.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> Herderite was sweating nervously. She had never been wrong before. Much less made a fool out of herself in front of the Diamonds. She quickly hacked into the Law Enforcement’s servers. Indeed, there was a report of a theft thirteen days ago.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”And check the warp records,” Peridot N07-H3R said. ”I think you’ll find that I was nowhere near the site of the first attack on N1V-25. I was on the other side of the planet, visiting a friend.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Herderite checked the warp records again. It was true. There were two conflicting records. One showed that Peridot N07-H3R had arrived at one warp pad far away from the docks. The other showed that she, or rather, her limb enhancers had arrived at the docks where the first attack took place.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”B-but…” Herderite stammered, desperately trying to figure out some way that she could still be right. ”H-how could your limb enhancers be stolen? How could anyone steal something you’re wearing?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot N07-H3R shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I wasn’t wearing them,” she said. ”I haven’t worn them for almost two years now.” She wiggled her legs and toes. ”Never liked them. They were like a prison for your hands and feet. I still had them lying around in my apartment in case I ever needed them. Someone broke in and stole them.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White Diamond stared at the gem she was holding between her thumb and index finger. She closed her eyes and brought the gem closer to her head, pressing the Peridot’s head against her gem.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Tell me you’re not the Winter Shadow,” White commanded, her gem glowing faintly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I am not the Winter Shadow,” Peridot N07-H3R said sincerely. ”And I don’t know who really is.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A few tense moments passed by before White sighed and gently set the innocent gem down on the roof of the apartment building.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”She’s telling the truth,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Heerderite’s eyes twitched madly and she nearly fell off Yellow’s shoulder. Yellow grabbed the tech gem and set her down on top of the apartment building as well.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot N07-H3R strutted over to the depressed pile of long limbs and patted her on the shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Aw, there, there,” she said. ”You tried your best, and that’s all that matters.” She turned to the Diamonds and whispered theatrically. ”This is what happens when you trust a Herderite to track something. They couldn’t find a Diamond in the rough.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A rough, for those of you unaware, was slang for a group of rowdy Quartzes. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Now, if you just give me that…” Peridot N07-H3R said and grabbed one of Herderite’s wrist computers. She brought up a screen and a keyboard and started typing away at something. ”And I’ll find the Winter Shadow for you.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”And how are you going to do that?” Yellow said while massaging the bridge of her nose. She was having a flashback to some of the arguments she had witnessed between Herderites and Peridots in the past.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Simple,” Peridot N07-H3R said confidently. ”My limb enhancers were turned off when they were stolen, so I wasn’t able to track them. But if the Winter Shadow turned then on again, then I should be able to…” A map of Homeworld came up and marker blinked on the screen. ”There! Would you look at that? It seems the Winter Shadow is at the Disarmament Unit! She must’ve used them to gain entrance with under my name!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow scooped up the two smaller gems in her hand.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Let’s go!” she said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Disarmament Unit…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Disarmament Units were facilities where old weaponry was disposed of. Destabilizers and canons were dismantled, swords melted down and explosives detonated in safe chambers. The large factories worked around the clock to disarm the gem empire. Even so, the process would take at least a hundred more years.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The enormous Disarmament Unit on Homeworld was a repurposed forge. It was a gigantic building about twenty kilometers beneath the surface of Homeworld, embedded within ancient rock. The building itself was about seven hundred meters tall and vaguely egg-shaped, with a hollow middle. The bottom floor held several smelting stations filled with red hot molten metal. In the center stood The Bomb Chamber, a large dome of hardened metal where the explosives were disposed of. Around the inside of the thick walls of the building were several storage rooms and working stations where weapons were dismantled.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The staff currently in the unit had all been gathered at the bottom floor, where managers were trying to get a headcount. Easier said than done since it was absolute chaos. Scared and confused yells and shouts echoed in the enormous chamber and dozens upon dozens of gems were trying to get the Diamonds’ attention to get an explanation. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Meanwhile, the facility’s security guards were searching the forge from bottom to top, trying to find a gem with a pair of limb enhancers that didn’t belong to her. The three Diamonds stood at the bottom floor, trying the help as best as they could by scanning what little they could see from their vantage point.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Herderite and Peridot N07-H3R had found themselves among the chaos down on the floor among gems screaming and pushing each other.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey,” Peridot N07-H3R said nervously. ”I just thought of something.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”What’s that?” Herderite muttered, still sore from being wrong in front of the Diamonds and then outdone by a Peridot. ”A thought? Congratulations, I hope you didn’t hurt your poor gem.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Shut it and listen!” Peridot N07-H3R hissed. ”I’m serious. The explosives. Why couldn’t anyone track them?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Herderite shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The Winter Shadow probably washed the tracker off or something. I don’t know anything about your trackers.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I can tell,” Peridot N07-H3R muttered. ”You can’t just wash the tracker off. You’d have to dip the explosives in acid for that. And if you did that, they’d go off.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Herderite stood silent, her hatred for all Peridots forgotten for the moment. She understood where this was going.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Then the only way to get around the tracker…” she said slowly. Peridot N07-H3R finished the sentence.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…would be if they were where they were supposed to be…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…in this building…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The realization made the two tech gems freeze in place. They heard the commotion around them, but it seemed almost muted to them. They could only turn in silence to look up at where every single gem in the building was pointing.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">High up in the air, hovered something.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was the Winter Shadow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She was standing on top of a small hover tray. She was clad entirely in black, a crude hood and cape sowed together from pieces of scrap cloth. The green arm of a Peridot limb enhancer was poking out of a hole in the cloth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”There you are!” White Diamond roared and stomped towards the figure, Yellow and Blue right behind her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Without a word, the Winter Shadow leaned backward and the hover tray floated into a large alcove in the wall. She held up the limb enhancer arm and four fingers formed a screen with a single large button on it. The fifth finger hovered above the button.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I won’t let you escape!” White Diamond yelled and reached towards the figure…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow pressed the button.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>KA-BOOM!!!</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To be continued…</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You know, there are a lot of really good Christmas stories out there, but I really think some of them could use more explosions.</p>
<p>Oh, and just in case: If you wanna use a Herderite, based on my specific descriptions here, in one of your fanworks, feel free to. I’d just appreciate a shoutout.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Escape</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Deafening sound.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blinding light.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Intense heat.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Rubble falling.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The entire world shakes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 12: The Escape</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 10th</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The explosives were hidden inside alcoves at the very top of the building, where the walls and ceiling connected. They detonated all at once and the force shook the entire building. The shockwaves pushed smaller gems off their feet and even left the Diamonds stumbling.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Large cracks started spreading across the ceiling. You did not have to be a mining gem to figure out exactly what was about to happen. And yet, no one moved. Every gem on the ground were like deers caught in the headlights, too shocked to move.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ancient rock groaned and an enormous chunk of the ceiling collapsed and fell.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For a single long moment, White Diamond stood paralyzed, starring at the Winter Shadow hovering safely within her alcove. She could reach out and grab her…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She didn’t. Instead, she, Yellow and Blue rushed in under the collapsing ceiling. They raised their hands and braced for the impact.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The small mountain or rocks and rubble hit with the impact of a meteor. But the Diamonds were stronger. Together, the three of them pushed against it and kept it from crashing down on the small gems beneath them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The cracks continued to spread across the enormous piece of ceiling. Rubble fell from it and landed in some of the molten metal in the forge, splashing liquid steel everywhere.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Everyone!” Yellow yelled. ”Get into the bomb chamber!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Q-quickly,” Blue groaned, struggling to keep the mountain of rock from breaking apart and collapsing.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That got the gems moving. A small flood of colorful gems moved towards the large opening of the large bomb chamber in the middle of the forge. That dome was the safest place to be right now.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot N07-H3R had been thrown off her feet by the shockwave from the explosions. She struggled back up on her feet and ran as fast as her clumsy legs could carry her toward the bomb chamber. Large boulders fell around her, threatening to crush her</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. A green gem lying on the floor, paralyzed by fear.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Come on!” she shouted and grabbed ahold of Herderite’s arm. She started dragging the taller gem along. ”We have to get to the comb chamber!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A piece of rubble landed in a vat of molten steel and splashed drops of glowing metal onto Peridot N07-H3R. She let out a shrill shriek in pain. The scream seemed to make Herderite wake from her shocked state up and she struggled back up on her own feet. She grabbed Peridot and lifted her up in her long arms. She ran toward the bomb chamber, hurrying inside the dark metal dome.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Was that the last ones?” White groaned.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes,” Yellow said, gritting her teeth. ”On three.” She let go with one hand and lit it up with lightning. ”One.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Two,” Blue said, forming a ball of concentrated energy in her hand.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Three!” White yelled, her eyes glowing with power.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Together, they blasted the rock with as much power as they could muster. The falling ceiling shattered into a million pieces that rained down around them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The bomb chamber was pelted with hundreds of boulders, each one making the inside echo. The sound was beyond deafening. Some gems poofed right then and there, just from the intense sound alone. Others wouldn’t regain their hearing for days or until they reformed. But at least they all survived.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The dust settled. The forge was completely destroyed, beyond all repair. Molten metal slithered slowly underneath and between some of the boulders, hissing like venomous snakes. The only thing that wasn’t destroyed was the bomb chamber. Confused and terrified guards peeked out from the storage rooms and workshops they had been hiding inside. In the middle of the mess stood the Diamonds, covered in dust and with a few scrapes here and there from particularly nasty rocks. They were breathing heavily.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White Diamond was the first to act, pulling her foot free from the rubble. Her nails and shoes were far from as immaculate as they had been only a few minutes prior, but she didn’t care. She walked over to the wall where she had last seen the Winter Shadow hiding inside an alcove on her hover tray.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The hover tray was still there, floating in the air next to a cooling vent. But the Winter Shadow was gone. All that was left was the stolen set of limb enhancers. That and a message scorched into the hover tray.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">you can’t catch a shadow</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White let out a wrathful scream and punched the wall. There was a bright flash of red light and the wall exploded, leaving a large hole to the outside. There was a fiery red blush on her face. Yellow and Blue both flinched.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White stood there, panting heavily. Slowly, the red on her face shrunk. It didn’t disappear and wouldn’t for several hours, but it got smaller. Other colors, like deep green and purple crept onto her face as well. Without a word, she kneeled and started picking up boulders blocking the entrance of the bomb chamber and chucking them out the hole she made. Yellow and Blue joined her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">No one said anything.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Inside the bomb chamber, gems were crying both from pain and fear. Many of them were clutching their heads and ringing ears. Others were cradling the gems of their poofed friends in their hands. Two green gems were holding each other tight and they didn’t let go for several hours.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow hid deep within the forge’s ancient cooling vents, patiently awaiting the right time to leave. Just mingle into the crowd, pretend to cry. Slip out undetected. Easy.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow smiled an empty smile born from hatred, not joy. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White Diamond’s scream of rage had reached even into the dark depths of the tunnels where the Winter Shadow was hiding. The time when she would finally see the truth was coming soon.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow would show it to her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The End… or is it?</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Luz</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 13: Luz</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">On Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 13th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The darkness was thick and suffocating that night on Homeworld. In more ways than one. The news of what had happened, about the Winter Shadow’s latest attack, had spread fast. In less than three days, everyone knew. And it terrified them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">All of the sudden, the cold that hadn’t bothered them before felt so much worse. The heavy snowfall drowned out all light and monsters hid in the shadows. The nights seemed impossibly long like it would never. Gems stayed indoors, some huddled up in small groups, others alone.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Many gems were alone.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But as they gazed outside their dark windows, they saw something outside. A light in the distance, slowly coming closer.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There walked a lady they all knew, who shined white light. Behind her, two other ladies glowing bright yellow and soft blue. They were clearing the way through the snow for the long procession of gems walking behind them, their gems glowing brightly in the dark night.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They were singing something. The gems inside couldn’t quite make out what, but it didn’t matter what the words were. They still understood the meaning behind the soft tones reaching them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hope.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter is meant to act as a bit of a cooldown after the last few chapters hence why it’s so short. We’ll get back to all the fun stuff next chapter.</p>
<p>The title is a reference not just to Lucia, but also to Luz Noceda from The Owl House, which I’m currently liveblogging over at Lampman Liveblogs on tumblr.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Candy, Clothes, and Mistletoes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 14: Candy, Clothes, and Mistletoes</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Back on Earth…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 14th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Our heroes in Beach City remained blissfully ignorant of the dramatic goings-on up in space. They were busy facing a crisis of their own; Amethyst had eaten all of the gingerbreads. All three hundred of them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And all of the saffron buns. And the ice chocolate. And the toffee. And all of the limited edition caramel &amp; cranberry donuts Citizen Dewey had gifted them. Really, it was a miracle there was any food left in the house. If Pearl hadn’t discovered her raiding the fridge and physically restrained her that morning, they wouldn’t have had any ham or Christmas root beer left either.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">So the Crystal Gem household was in desperate need of more candy and snacks. Hence, the entire team was gathered that day, ready to spend the entire day baking and cooking. It was a team effort. Not quite the same thing as taking on the gem empire or fighting an army of light constructs, but still. Baking wasn’t easy.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Garnet was making saffron buns. Her favorite part was putting the raisins in at each end. Pearl was making the gingerbreads. She didn’t use any molds but preferred to cut her own. Much more symmetrical that way. Steven mostly did the ice chocolate. Bismuth had declared herself in charge of ”anything hot,” but she spent most of her time hanging out with Pearl and only occasionally handling the ovens. Connie spent a lot of time either helping others out or making figures out of marzipan. Greg made lunch, a soup based on a recipe from his aunt. He was also in charge of supplying a near-constant stream of hot chocolate. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Amethyst spent the morning and most of the noon chained to the wall until she learned her lesson. Around lunchtime, the Crystal Gems finally relented and let her loose. She was allowed to handle the toffee station as long as she didn’t eat any of it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot and Lapis Lazuli were there too, of course. Peridot was having way too much fun ”perfecting” her Christmas crackers. Some of her laughs brought to mind not a cheerful elf, but a mischievous gremlin.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lapis mostly floated between stations, helping out with whatever she felt like. She particularly liked to make shapes out of gingerbread and marzipan, as well as helping Bismuth design a grand gingerbread house. It took Steven a while to convince them that they shouldn’t try to build an actual house of gingerbread and that only evil witches did that.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The stereo was blasting classic Christmas songs. Peridot made a comment about wanting to boost the output and very nearly got herself chained to the wall besides Amethyst for it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In honor of the day, everyone was wearing something Christmas related. Bismuth, Amethyst, and Connie were wearing simple Santa hats, though Connie had to take her off after a while as the kitchen got very hot with all the activity. Steven and Greg were wearing matching sweaters with pictures of Santa Claus. Pearl was also wearing her own sweater, green spruces against a dark blue background. Garnet had somehow managed to balance a Santa hat and a strand of glitter on top of her large hair and get it to stay there (Amethyst was halfway convinced she had glued it stuck). Last but not least, we have Lapis and Peridot, who were, of course, the most extravagant of them all. Something that surprised absolutely no one.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Peridot was wearing a red and white Christmas dress, similar to the one she wore at Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding. She had also, with a little help and a few curses managed to wrap a light strand around the dress. The multi-colored lights were blinking softly. It made her look a bit like a Christmas tree. All that was missing was a star to balance on top of her hair. Though no one mentioned it to her. She really didn’t need any more good ideas.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lapis costume… well, it was… something.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She had dragged Peridot along to go shopping for clothes in Empire City only a few days prior. And she had found a lot that tickled her particular brand of fancy. Socks, sweaters, costumes, and accessories… she could not settle for one thing. So she bought it all.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Instead of her usual golden sandals, she was wearing a pair of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer socks. She had found what might’ve been the ugliest sweater for sale in Empire City. It was dark red, with a picture of a penguin. The penguin was also wearing a sweater which was only marginally less ugly. Over the sweater, she wore a bright green suit jacket decorated with large snowflakes, Santa hats, and candy canes. On her head, she had a diadem with small reindeer horns, and on her nose, a bright red Rudolph nose. Peridot got her hands on it, and after a few minutes of mad laughter, it was now glowing. If need be, it could really be used as a spotlight to light the way through a dark snowstorm. She was also wearing a pair of really ugly Christmas briefs under her pants, but she wasn’t planning on showing them to anyone. Not any of the Crystal Gems anyway.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The outfit was opulent in how trashy it was. It was a shameless display, pure indulgence on Lapis’ part. She delighted in seeing her friends and family wince every time they laid their eyes upon her hideous new form. This was not a mistake. She knew what she was doing.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lapis had actually brought a pair of pants, a shirt, and a tie that fit with the suit, which she was planning on wearing for Christmas. What she was doing right now? That was just for her entertainment.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was another secret plan at work aside from Lapis’ plan to torture her friends. The decidedly less evil master behind this ingenious plan was none other than Connie.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As you all know, the mistletoe is a sacred tradition. Any two people that find themselves under it during Christmas times had to kiss. Those were the rules. After each kiss, a berry was plucked from the mistletoe, and only when all the berries were gone may the kissing cease.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Well, wouldn’t you know it, a wild mistletoe had suddenly appeared in the Crystal Gem household while no one was looking! What a mystery! Oh well, there was nothing that could be done about it now. And if Steven and Connie ”accidentally” stepped underneath the mistletoe at the same time…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Connie was sitting on the sofa, sculpting marzipan pigs. She had strategically placed the mistletoe close-by, so when Steven stepped under it, she’d be the first one there. A flawless plan!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Except it wasn’t. Because he failed to account for the fact that there were, you know… more people there. The house was bustling with activity and the mistletoe Connie had smuggled in only had four berries.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The first pair to step under the mistletoe was Lapis and Peridot. Peridot got curious about the strange plant that had seemingly come from nowhere, and she dragged Lapis along, without knowing the tradition. After Connie explained it to her, she paled and immediately tried to flee. Lapis caught her, and despite Peridot’s protest, planted a small little kiss on her cheek.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ah! Gross!” Peridot shrieked. She spent the rest of the day pouting and wiping her cheek while refusing to speak to Lapis. At most, she hissed at her a few times. Lapis thought it was hilarious and would not stop giggling for hours.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The second pair was Bismuth and Pearl. Bismuth asked Pearl to help her move some baking trays, and whoops! They accidentally stepped under the mistletoe! Bismuth gave Pearl a kiss on her gem, which made Pearl drop a tray of fresh gingerbreads on the floor. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After Pearl and Bismuth got done cleaning up the mess they made, Garnet stepped under the mistletoe by herself. For a moment, she lit up in bright light, which then faded to reveal Ruby and Sapphire standing there, smooching each other for a good few minutes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ruby and Sapphire decided to stay separated for a while. Ruby roasted some almonds and Sapphire helped Steven with the ice chocolate. Occasionally, she’d turn in Connie’s direction and smile a little.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">At this point, Connie was getting desperate. There was only one berry left in the mistletoe, and Steven had yet to step under it. She had to do something!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”H-hey, Steven,” she called. ”Could you come and, uh… look at this pig! ”she held up a half-formed marzipan pig. ”It totally looks like Peridot!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hm? Oh, sure,” Steven said. He started walking towards Connie, moving painfully slowly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I wanna see it too!” Amethyst cried and ran towards Connie as well, and…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">BAM!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She collided with Greg, who was carrying some of Peridot’s Christmas crackers!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">BOOM!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The crackers exploded in a large cloud of smoke and confetti! Various hats, presents, and treats flew everywhere!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Once the dust settled, Greg and Amethyst were lying in a tangled pile of limbs, hair, and presents from the cracker. They were right beneath the mistletoe.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, sorry dude,” Amethyst said guiltily. She gave Greg an apologetic kiss on the bald spot on his head.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No harm done,” Greg chuckled with a smile.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Connie squeezed the marzipan pig into marzipan puree in her hand. Amethyst plucked the last berry from the mistletoe and threw it in her mouth. At another time, Connie might’ve felt obliged to tell her that mistletoe berries are poisonous, but for some reason, she didn’t this time.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven sat down next to Connie and helped her finish up the last few marzipan figures. It was fun, sure, but there was an empty hole within Connie’s poor lovesick heart.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Another hour passed by. The sun set and disappeared, leaving the house draped in darkness. Slowly but surely, each station finished up what they were doing. Ruby and Sapphire fused again. The last gingerbread and saffron bun were baked. The last ice chocolate and toffee was frozen. The final almond was roasted. The last gingerbread house in the shape of the Crystal Temple was finished, complete with little gingerbread version of the Crystal Gems themselves.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Finally, the last marzipan figure was done and dipped in melted chocolate.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">However, before either Connie or Steven could stand up and go wash their hands, someone giggled behind them. They looked up and saw Garnet standing over them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Look what I found,” she said with a broad smile. She held up a branch of mistletoe with a single berry on it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven giggled and kissed the blushing Connie.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And so, at the end of the day, everyone was happy. Even Peridot had to admit that they’d had a very fun day together. All of the Crystal Gems sat gathered around the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate and munching on gingerbread cookies, too exhausted from a whole day’s worth of hard work to do anything else but watch the flames dance before them.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun Fact: Aside from the Rudolph nose and diadem, all the clothes I described Lapis wearing, I own.</p>
<p>Some eagle-eyed readers might’ve picked up on the little reference I made to the Light series of SU video games. I kinda wanted to do a little scene catching up with the antagonists from those games… but I thought of this idea kinda late, so I don’t have any time… or anywhere to put it in this story…</p>
<p>So if any of you, my wonderful readers, are feeling creatively inclined tonight, here’s a prompt for you; Hessonite, Pyrope, and Demantoid… and heck, throw in Squaridot too. They’re all in the Palace of Light. And they do something funny. Like… maybe Hessonite is super excited to celebrate Christmas, to the point where she’s annoying everyone else (but like, even more than she usually does). </p>
<p>Or maybe… Hessonite dresses up as Santa, and Demantoid and Squaridot see through it, but Pyrope is as oblivious as ever. So Squaridot and Demantoid begrudgingly team up to prove that Hessonite is the one dressing up as Santa. Hijinks ensue.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Christmas on Little Homeworld</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 15: Christmas on Little Homeworld</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Little Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 15th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Not only was Homeworld and the gem empire at large preparing for Christmas, but so was Little Homeworld. As a matter of fact, most of Little Homeworld was in the know of Operation Christmas; the Diamonds had informed them when they came to visit on the day of the Crystal Gem’s first Annual Snowball Fight. Only the gems closest to Steven were kept in the dark, to ensure he didn’t find out about the operation.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Suffice it to say, Little Homeworld was just as excited to celebrate Christmas like the rest of gemkind. They were busy preparing in their own way. They had decided to deliver gifts to the citizens of Beach City, so several gems were busy making gifts. The Heaven and Earth Beetle had volunteered to sneak into the humans’ houses to deliver the gifts. The new Lapis Lazuli, the one with the golden freckles, said she’d fly them around in a small sled.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">While the environs of Beach City had been turned into a snowy winter wonderland, Lapis Lazuli and Lapis Lazuli had both agreed that there could be more. So they had practically buried the place in fluffy white. The Quartzes loved it, of course. More ammo for snowball fights. Ever since the legendary snowball fight between the Crystal Gems’ Core Team and B-Team, the Quartzes were trying their darnedest to upstage it, with varying results. Most of them being cracked gems that Steven had to heal.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Snowflake Obsidian and Little Larimar enjoyed the snow too, of course. Not all gems were so fond of it, though. You’d think the Heaven and Earth Beetle would loathe it, but they actually found it fun to dig long tunnels through the snow. So did all the Pebbles that came to visit.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Rubies, on the other hand, hated the snow. They had no fun whatsoever digging through the thick snowbanks that covered the streets. Most of them took to melting pathways through the snow with their fiery breaths to get where they wanted.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">This ended up causing more problems, however, as the water froze again into slippery ice. More than a few gems ended up slipping and falling flat on their butts. Which the Rubies thought was hilarious… until one gem with her gem placed rather… unfortunately, ended up cracking her gem after she slipped. After that, Lapis and Lapis had to make sure to clear the streets at least a little so all the small gems could walk on them unhindered. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In the middle of Little Homeworld stood a large Christmas tree. Some of the big strong gems had ventured deep into the dark forests and hauled home the biggest spruce they could find. It was just over fifteen meters tall and every single gem had helped decorate it in some way.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The gems that could fly or were good at jumping got to decorate the top of the tree, of course. Some of the smaller gems that couldn’t reach that high got to carry and place all of the Christmas gifts underneath the tree. The wrapped gifts soon formed a large pile awaiting the day when they could finally be opened.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tree was a beautiful sight to behold. It was decorated with lights and candles, colorful glass baubles, and glitter. The entire tree shimmered as if enchanted by wondrous magic, and perhaps it was. Steven got the honor of placing the star at the top. It was a large, five-pointed golden star, the Crystal Gems’ symbol. Its light reached far and wide, even beyond Little Homeworld itself.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A pair of lonely eyes peered at Little Homeworld in the distance. There was a shining golden light atop a large tree that hadn’t been there before.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jasper scoffed. Another one of these dumb Earth traditions, no doubt.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She plodded through the snow back to her cave. She had tried to clear the area around it from the cold white stuff the best she could, but every night, more seemed to fall from the sky and she had to dig her way out of the cave.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She arrived at the cave and immediately noticed something was wrong. There was a faint light coming from inside the cave.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jasper slowly made her way closer. She was surprisingly light on her feet for someone that massive, but the squeaking snow beneath her boots betrayed her position. It made Jasper wince. She might as well loudly announce her position to the unknown enemy inside her cave.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She reached the entrance and peeked inside. There was no one there. Just a large candle and something wrapped in colorful paper.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Christmas gift had two stickers. A smaller one that said, ”To: Jasper, From: ?” The large one said, ”Do Not Open Until Christmas!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jasper tore the paper off without a second thought. Inside was one of those things humans used to store information. What was it called? A Book? A book called ”The Art of War.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Useless trash,” Jasper muttered. As if some human could possibly have anything to teach her in the noble art of warfare. She threw it to the side and lied down on her favorite lying rock. She decided to keep the candle lit, just so she could see if anyone tried to sneak more garbage into her cave.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">An hour passed by. The candle lasted a lot longer than Jasper thought it would.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Another hour went by. It was dark outside now. If she looked far away, she might spot the light from the golden star at the top of the Christmas tree in Little Homeworld. But aside from that, the only light that reached her eyes came from the candle.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A few more hours. Snow started falling slowly outside. The cold didn’t bother Jasper. Still, the faint warmth from the candle was pleasant.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She picked the book up. She might get a laugh or two out of it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jasper stayed inside her cave for many more hours, reading through the book in the light from the candle. She did not laugh, but there were the faintest hints of a smile on her hardened face. Maybe this human wasn’t so dumb after all.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She never did find out who left the candle and the book for her. She didn’t really care. And perhaps it didn’t matter.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Shoutout to my friend Toonfreak. She sorta, not really, but kinda gave me the idea of that poor gem slipping on ice and cracking her gem.</p>
<p>Also, remember that scene with Jasper. It’ll be important later. Thematically, anyway.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Santa's Workshop & Two Little Gremlins</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 16: Santa’s Workshop &amp; Two Little Gremlins</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Space…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 16th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Homeworld was buzzing and so were countless colonies throughout the galaxy. Buzzing with frantic activity. Trillions of gems worked like an enormous horde of ants towards one single goal. It was a testament to the true power of unity, teamwork, and determination.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After all, it does seem impossible, doesn’t it? Delivering gifts to every single person on Earth in one single night? Surely, that was an impossible goal… right? Even if the entire gem empire was working in unison, they barely had twenty-two days to prepare. How could they possibly hope to be ready in time?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Well, dear reader, there are a few facts you’ve got to keep in mind about gems. Firstly, they don’t need to do things like eat or sleep. They can if they want to, but most gems found that they wanted to work on Operation Christmas more. So a lot of them, not all, but a lot, worked around the clock to get everything ready on time.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Shipwrights worked tirelessly on converting old dropships into gift delivering ships. Entire armies’ worth of Pebbles, Aquamarines, Beetles as well as any other gems that were small or could fly were being trained to break into human homes and deliver gifts.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Speaking of gifts, what exactly were the gems planning on giving to humanity?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Honestly, mostly just stuff they had lying around. Despite their best efforts, even the entire might of the gem empire couldn’t possibly hope to produce over seven billion gifts in less than a month. So they raided their old warehouses and storage facilities for stuff they didn’t need. Low-tech gadgets and trinkets. Well, low-tech by gem standards. Most of the Earth’s leading scientists could spend their entire lives trying to understand some of the gems’ gifts, only to be forced to shrug and say ”I dunno, magic?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Remote-controlled robonoids that no one was using anymore. Clumsy, outdated hover trays that you couldn’t fly on, but could still be used as shelves. Multi-colored light orbs with batteries that could last for about a thousand years or so. Since humans loved music just as much as gems, then a few wailing stones that had been converted into speakers would surely be appreciated. Hard-light drawing tablets, similar to the ones used to document court proceedings. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">One of the many gifts included something that looked like a thin sheet of dark glass. On the sheet blinked billions of tiny stars, showing the Milky Way’s slow dance through the cosmos. This exquisite object was sure to make countless astronomers cry tears of joy. To the gems, it was basically just a fancy but impractical map.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Since humans couldn’t poof and reform when they got hurt, some humans were missing their limbs from various accidents. Some decommissioned limb enhancers could fix that right up.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Over the years, various mining colonies had amassed enormous quantities of precious metals, like silver, gold, and platinum. These metals were only used in relatively small amounts, but some upper crust gems liked to keep large vaults of the stuff. Mostly because it looked pretty and shiny. Now it was being put to good use, turning into jewelry, rings, necklaces, and bracelets.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Of course, all of this was just stuff. Sometimes the best gifts aren’t the most valuable, expensive, or flashy things. Sometimes the most valuable gift is something much simpler and honest.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Somewhere on Earth…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Picture a scenic clearing in the middle of a forest during wintertime. Snow is covering the ground, except for a few patches where spruces and pines caught it in their branches. The sun was hanging high up in the sky. It’d be getting dark soon, but for the moment, the rays of the Earth’s star was still making the snow sparkle.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Close to the clearing stood a particularly large spruce, big enough for two small gems to hide underneath it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I hate this!” Eyeball Ruby growled. She was in a bad mood. Which wasn’t that unusual. It was a bit worse today, however. She and Aquamarine had been flying over this clearing in some random forest in some random part of the Earth when they suddenly crashed. And of course, Aquamarine had to use her as a cushion. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I know,” Aquamarine hissed. She was trying and failing to reach her back where her wings had frozen to ice. She was in an even worse mood than Ruby. ”You’ve already told me! Seven times!” She winced as she tried to straighten her back, sharp edges of ice digging into her form.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ruby huffed and turned her back to Aquamarine. She entertained herself by drawing the face of that accursed Steven Universe in the soft cold stuff on the ground and then stabbing it with her chisel. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She stopped when she heard Aquamarine gasp behind her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey…” she turned around and saw the blue gem’s face contorted by pain. ”Are you okay?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Do I look like I’m okay!?” Aquamarine snapped. She was sitting on the ground. Her arms were tightly wrapped around her chest and her hands clutched her shoulders hard. ”My wings are frozen.” Every little movement she made seemed to send a new stab of pain through her body. ”It…” her voice wavered for a moment. ”It hurts quite a bit.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Ruby sighed and threw her chisel to the side. She stood up and walked over and kneeled behind Aquamarine. She rubbed her hands together and heated them up. Aquamarine winced when Ruby’s warm hands touched her shoulders, but she soon relaxed as the warmth spread through her body. Slowly, Ruby started moving her hands closer to the frozen wings to thaw them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You heard about this ’Christmas’ thing they’re doing on Homeworld?” she asked after a while. ”Some human tradition Steven taught the Diamonds. Sounded really stupid.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yeah, I’ve heard,” Aquamarine scoffed. ”What a load of rubbish.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yeah…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It got dark quick and snow started falling slowly around them. Aquamarine didn’t want to risk flying, freezing her wings again and crashing in the dark, so they stayed where they were. They sat underneath the large spruce together, Aquamarine keeping close to Ruby so her wings wouldn’t freeze again.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Despite their souls being filled with spite, bitterness, and wrath, they at least had each other.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun Fact: Those Wailing Stones turned speakers come with a few songs installed already by the gems. Rainbow Aura Quartz In the Dark, Paint It Blue, Smells Like Spirit Quartz, I Am a Rock, Rock You Like a Jasper, Shine on You Crazy Diamond…</p>
<p>Tell you what, why don’t you leave me with some more puns to be mildly entertained by?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Her Blue Soul</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 17: Her Blue Soul</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 23rd.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was the day before Christmas and seldom had Homeworld been so excited! And not just Homeworld, but the jolly and cheer spanned the entire empire. And why should it not? Despite the seemingly impossible time frame, they had done it. They had pulled off the impossible. All throughout the galaxy stood over a million ships packed to the brink with over seven billion gifts and entire armies of gems ready to deliver them. They were just waiting for the first minute of Christmas Eve to come on Earth, and they’d be off.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And yet, there was still a dark shadow hanging over Homeworld.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow was still on free foot. While there hadn’t been any big attacks since the one at the Disarmament Unit, the Shadow’s presence was still felt. There had been multiple cases of vandalism at several places on Homeworld, small shops selling Christmas gifts set on fire, or Christmas decorations being torn down.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Still, nothing could ruin the good mood the entire planet was in the day before Christmas Eve! Very soon, all the hard work the last three weeks pay off! Operation Christmas was in the final stages, the fine-tuning, so to speak.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Said fine-tuning was being done on the former Human Zoo Ship, now the Human Cruise Ship. The entire station had been moved to Homeworld and was now hovering over the enormous launching grounds from which the first few ships leading Operation Christmas would launch in less than twenty-four hours. The idea was to try the Gift Delivering Routines on some actual live humans and the Zoomans had been more than happy to lend their assistance. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Of course, at this point, the tests were mostly done, so the station was more or less empty, aside from a few gems and Zoomans doing a little last-minute training before the big day. The ”Famethyst” and most of the Zoomans that usually resided in the station were doing some sightseeing on Homeworld… which meant that despite the high-security standards upheld everywhere else, the station was left almost completely unguarded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Down in the lower levels of the Cruise Ship, a dark figure moved through dimly lit corridors. The figure was clad in clumsily sown together robes, her every feature obscured under the black cloth. She snuck silently through long hallways that were far from as opulent as the ones on the upper levels.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The lower part of the Cruise Ship hosted buzzing machines and humming environmental systems, several of them many thousand years old and out of date. The long hallway was lined with doors leading into various machine rooms filled with all the apparatuses that kept the Cruise Ship alive. No gem had been down there for at least three hundred years… yet, the robed figure moved with a certain sense of familiarity. As if she had been there before.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She finally reached the end of the long hallway. There were three doors, one right in front of her and two on each side of her. The one on the left side lead to the air conditioning system and the one on the right to one of many server rooms controlling the computers aboard. The figure didn’t stop for either of these doors. She was headed for the one straight ahead. That door lead down to the lowest level of the station, to the gravity engine. The part that let the station hover like it did without coming crashing down on the planet and crush the hundreds of ships beneath it at the moment.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The dark figure slowly reached towards the panel next to the door to open it…. only for the door to open on its own. The door slid to the side with a pneumatic hiss.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The Winter Shadow, I presume?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The dark figure flinched and took a few steps back in surprise. There was a gem behind the door! A tiny little Aquamarine with her gem proudly presented on her chest. Her arms were folded behind her back quite casually. Right next to her gem sat a shiny badge that identified her as part of the Homeworld Law Enforcement.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”About time,” the Aquamarine said, spreading her water wings and lifting up into the air. ”I was getting tired of waiting.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The dark figure took a few more steps backward. Although you couldn’t see her face at all, it was evident that things were suddenly not going according to plan.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Now, Winter Shadow, you do have some options of where we go from here,” the Aquamarine said, awfully casual for someone addressing the most wanted criminal on all of Homeworld. ”Either you surrender right now…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The dark figure reached inside her suit, seemingly to somewhere on her back. She pulled out her weapon, a long electric whip, which started buzzing threateningly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…or you could do that,” the Aquamarine said while shaking her head. ”How awfully predictable. ”BOO!” The little blue gem suddenly shouted and the dark figure stumbled, taken by surprise.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The doors at each side of the hallway opened, revealing a large Jasper on one side and a Topaz on the other. Before the dark figure had time to even try and fight back, or even run away, they slammed into her. There was a bright light, and when it faded away, the figure was stuck inside of a Lily Pad Jasper fusion. The captured gem wriggled a bit, but quickly realized the futility of it and went still.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Not so tough in person, are we?” the Aquamarine sighed. ”Come on, big girl,” she said to her partner. ”Let’s bring her in.” She winked at the dark figure. ”We got some people who are <em>very</em> eager to meet you.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A few minutes' worth of elevator rides and walking later, the tow police gems and the captured figure arrived at the old Bubble Room. This time, the room was hosting a fair bit more gems than just the Rose Quartzes that normally hung out there. The Rose Quartzes were still there, and so was the Famethyst, but also the three Diamonds, Spinel, and just about all the police gems they could sneak onto the station.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Lily Pad Jasper unfused into her component gems, dropping the dark figure on the floor in a rather pathetic-looking pile of limbs and dark cloth. As she struggled to sit up properly, she got snared in her own clothes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White Diamond was laughing gleefully the entire time.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ahahaha! You fell right into our trap!” she said, her face lighting up with a faint yellow light of amusement.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow Diamond nodded, trying and failing to conceal a smile.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You didn’t really think it’d be this easy, did you?” she asked rhetorically. ”That we’d leave this place entirely unguarded while you were still on free foot?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Moving this station here and letting it sit right above the field with the gift delivery ships?” Blue Diamond continued. ”That was all part of the plan. We knew you couldn’t resist such an opportunity.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”If this station were to fall out of the sky, not only would it cost the lives of thousands of gems and several dozen hips, but it would also be devastating for the morale of every gem in the galaxy,” Yellow Diamond said. ”You would accomplish your twisted goal of destroying Christmas in one fell swoop.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Enough expositing!” White said. ”The time has come to find out once and for all who this Winter Shadow truly is!” She reached towards the quivering figure on the floor, grabbing the black cloth with the tip of her impeccably polished fingernails.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With a dramatic gesture, White Diamond tore the hood and cloak of the figure to reveal…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You!” Yellow exclaimed. ”I recognize you!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Me too!” Blue gasped.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We too!” the Famethyst shouted in shock.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I… I don’t,” White said, confused. ”Who is she?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The figure sitting on the floor, looking like she was ready to cry, was none other than Holly Blue Agate.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hmph, ironic, isn’t it?” Yellow mused. ”Caught in the very same station you once commanded.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”B-but why?”, one of the Famethysts, Amethyst 8XG cried out. The entire group was in shock to see their old boss turn out to be the feared Winter Shadow. The Rose Quartzes hadn’t known Holly Blue for as long as the Famethyst had, but what little they did know about the blue gem… yeah, she didn’t exactly seem like the type who could pull off anything even remotely close to what the Winter Shadow had managed to.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”That is a very good question,” Blue said coldly. She reached down towards Holly Blue, who was starring at the floor and placed her finger underneath her chin. She forced Holly Blue to look up at her and all the gems surrounding her. ”Why were you trying to destroy Christmas?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I-I…” Holly Blue stuttered, her gaze dodging around the large room. She muttered something unintelligible under her breath.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Speak up!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Holly Blue flinched. Her face suddenly scrunched up and large tears started rolling down her cheeks.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I-I’m sorry, I didn’t…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I wasn’t asking for an apology,” Blue said, her voice as cold as ice. ”I was asking you ’why.’ Tell me, drove you to try and destroy Christmas?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”B-because… To get back at them!” Holly Blue sobbed. One weak arm gestured clumsily towards a certain group of gems standing in the room.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The Famethyst?” White asked. The triumphant yellow slowly faded from her face and was replaced by a faint shade of confused pink. A hundred or so pair of eyes turned towards the group of guard gems. The Amethysts seemed to shrink, while Skinny Jasper and Carnelian hid behind their larger friends. ”What do they have to do with any of this?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ever since the Crystal Gems visited, all of the guards have been so mean to me!” Holly Blue cried. ”T-they started bossing me around and made me do all the hard and dirty work all on my own… they called me names and told me I’m worthless and that no one wants me in Era 3.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…so let me get this straight,” Yellow said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Could gems get headaches? Who knows, but if they can, you can bet Yellow was well underway getting one. ”You were willing to endanger thousands of gems and ruin an entire holiday… because a few people were mean to you?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Holly Blue was starring down at the floor, very embarrassed and ashamed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”When you put it like that…” she mumbled.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Something landed in front of Holly Blue. Something that sounded very… springy. She looked up and saw Spinel standing there; she had jumped from where she had been standing on Yellow’s shoulder pad.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey, I get it,” Spinel said softly, stretching her arm and awkwardly patting the sobbing Holly Blue on the shoulder. ”It’s all cause you were jealous of all the people that had friends while you were alone, isn’t it?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I guess,” Holly Blue said meekly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Meanwhile, White’s eyes were firmly fixed on the squirming Famethyst group. Some of the Amethysts had paled from their ordinary deep purple to a more magenta magenta hue.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Is this true?” White asked. ”Have you been saying those awful things to Holly Blue?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Um…” one of them hesitated.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We, uh…” said another one, but she got distracted by an incredibly interesting spot on the floor that demanded her full attention.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Well?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We were only doing it because that’s what she’s been doing to us for years!” 8XJ finally said. ”She was a terrible person and a horrible boss! She treated us like dirt!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”That doesn’t give you the right to be mean back,” White said, scolding the gems like they were a pack of newly emerged gemlings making a mess in the kindergarten. ”Era 3 was supposed to be an era of forgiveness and new beginnings, not for petty revenge!” She picked up Holly Blue by the scruff of her neck and dumped her in front of the Famethyst group. ”Now I want you both to apologize to each other.” </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I’m sorry for how bad I treated you!” Holly Blue sobbed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">8XJ looked around at her sisters. No one said anything or seemed very keen on actually looking Holly Blue in the eyes, but all of them nodded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We, uh… we forgive you,” 8XJ said. ”And, um… I hope you can forgive us too. We should’ve been the bigger gems about it. But we weren’t. And that was wrong of us.” She extended her hand towards Holly Blue.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Holly Blue smiled a real, genuine smile for the first time in… ever.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I forgive you,” she said, wiping the last of her tears from her face. She shook 8XJ’s hand, and the Amethyst pulled her into a very awkward and brief hug.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Did I do good?” White whispered to Yellow and Blue, who both nodded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Steven would be proud,” Blue said, prompting White to blush with a proud yellow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Well, I guess all is well that ends well,” 8XL said cheerfully, patting Holly Blue a bit too roughly on the back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow laughed a little.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ah, I suppose so,” she said with a smile. Then her smile suddenly disappeared and her hand shot out to grab Holly Blue and hoist her into the air. ”However, Holly Blue Agate, you are still under arrest for destroying the dropship at N1V-25, as well as blowing up the Disarmament Unit here on Homeworld, endangering several hundred gems, arson, and tearing down several Christmas decorations from hard-to-reach places. You will be placed in jail awaiting your trial. You may hav…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Wait!” Holly Blue shouted. ”I haven’t destroyed any ships! Or blown up any Disarmament Units! Or set anything on fire! That wasn’t me!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Of course it was you, Holly Blue ’Winter Shadow’ Agate,” Yellow scoffed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Nonono, that wasn’t me!” Holly Blue cried, panicking and struggling in Yellow’s powerful grip. ”I’m not the Winter Shadow!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The temperature onboard the station seemed to drop several degrees in only a few moments.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”W-what?” Yellow asked through gritted teeth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Check the records!” Holly Blue said. ”I have never even been to N1V-25!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’re lying!” White yelled, her face flashing with fiery red. ”You’re… you’re just…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”She’s telling the truth,” said one of the police Herderite’s in the room meekly as she was holding up a holographic screen. ”This Holly Blue Agate has no recorded visits to N1V-25, neither by warp pad or ship. And…” The Herderite searched through another list. ”She has never been recorded to be anywhere near the Disarmament Unit, nor anywhere near the apartment complex where Peridot N07-H3R’s limb enhancers were stolen.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”B-but…” White stammered. ”But you were trying to sabotage the gravity engines! You were trying to make this station come crashing down!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Holly Blue paled.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”W-what!? No, do you think I have a death wish or something?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Then what were you doing down on the lower levels?” Blue asked. She tried to sound as suspicious as she could, but her conviction was wavering. ”And if you’re not the Winter Shadow, then who is?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I don’t know who the Winter Shadow is,” Holly Blue said. ”She approached me while, uh…” She blushed a little. ”While I was crying in a park,” she muttered. ”She was wearing a black robe and never spoke, so I have no idea who she is, not even what kind of gem… she only spoke by writing with a pair of limb enhancers, so I thought she might be a Peridot or something…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”And what were you doing in the lower levels of this station just now?” Yellow insisted.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The Winter Shadow said she had a plan,” Holly Blue said. ”And that all I had to do was place a message for you down there…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”A message…?” Blue said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yeah…” Holly Blue grunted and managed to free one of her arms from Yellow’s grip. She reached for her gem and pulled something out of it. A small holographic display unit. White extended her finger, and Holly Blue placed the small device on it. She pressed it to activate it. A large holographic screen appeared with a short message written on it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”She said that as long as you saw this… then she would be able to destroy Christmas.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow and Blue leaned in to see what was written on the screen.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">WHo Is ThE sleepwalker?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Somewhere out in space…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Out in the vast oceans of empty space, there was a small planetoid that had once been considered as a potential mining world. However, after Era 3 forbid the exploitation of worlds with life on them, any plans for the planetoid had been scrapped.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The life consisted mostly of plants similar to moss sitting atop rocks in the sea, algae, and a few globs of cells that hadn’t quite reached the metazoan stage just yet.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">If the plans to convert the planetoid into a mining colony had been carried out, then the first step would’ve been to reshape the surface into a more suitable landscape for spaceships to land and enormous drills to be deployed. The next would be to remove the sizable body of water that covered most of the surface. A prime job for a Lapis Lazuli, such as the curly-haired Lapis currently on the planetoid. Except she wasn’t doing any terraforming.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She had been planning to. After the freckled Lapis chose to abandon her and go to Little Homeschool, she had decided to keep going on her own. Not like she needed any help. It was just a bit faster and easier with help. And also more fun…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For some strange reason, as soon as she set foot on one of the small islands scattered across the watery surface, she lost all of her motivation. She could barely muster enough motivation to make a splash. Instead, she found herself just… sitting on top of rocks and staring down at the primitive life struggling to survive in the water. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sometimes when night fell, she’d lie down and look up at the stars in the sky and the three moons orbiting the planetoid.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">How long she spent on that tiny little world she didn’t know. Could’ve been a few days, or a few years. Didn’t really matter.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">One day, however, something happened. She was sitting on top of one of her favorite rocks when she heard a sound behind her. It was the single warp pad that had been installed on the planetoid activating. She turned around, but too late. Whoever it was that had arrived was already disappearing again in the pillar of light.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The curly-haired Lapis rushed over to the warp pad. There was… something lying by it. It was long, flat, and rectangular and wrapped in some kind of… colorful, thin wrapping material that tore easily. There was a ribbon tied around it. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Inside the gift was a large painting. It had been made by shaping some clay into the general outline of the painting, dried up, and then painted.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The painting depicted the curly-haired Lapis and her old companion, the freckled Lapis.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was a letter inside as well.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Merry Christmas!” it said. ”I hope you like this painting I made of us. I can show you how to make them if you come and visit. You’re still welcome in Little Homeworld if you want to. Hope you’re doing well. Sincerely, Lapis.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Despite everything… there seemed like someone still cared for her lost blue soul. And perhaps one day she’d be brave enough to accept it.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I had me some good laughs, reading all the comments assuming the Winter Shadow was the one crying at the end of chapter 2. Hahaha! The Winter Shadow is too mean to cry.</p>
<p>The whole ”tears turning to ice” thing was supposed to be symbolic.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. The Shadow Strikes Back</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 18: The Shadow Strikes Back</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 23rd.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">WHo Is ThE sleepwalker?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Sleepwalking. Something Steven had once mentioned while he was explaining to some gems how sleep worked. The term had been picked up by some younger gems and quickly spread through the galaxy. It was used to describe gems who regressed back to their old Era 2 ways or behavior. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For example, if a gem accidentally addressed a gem that had previously been their superior like they did during Era 2, with the same forced reverence and blind obedience, they were sleepwalking. Gems who had a difficult time adapting to the new ways were often called sleepwalkers.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I can’t believe it!” White exclaimed. She was pacing back and forth in the former bubble room of the Zoo. All of the other gems, save for Spinel safely perched atop Yellow’s shoulder had decided to get out of the room. No one felt like accidentally getting crushed underneath White Diamond’s shoes while she was pacing back and forth without looking where she was going. ”The Winter Shadow escapes us once again! Even when we set the perfect trap, she still slips right between our fingers!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her face was flashing angry red and worried purple.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Please calm down, White,” Blue said. She placed a firm hand on White’s shoulder, almost forcing her to come to a stop. ”I get that you’re upset, but please. We can’t let fear and paranoia control us.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Blue is right,” Yellow said. ”Think about it. There’s not a single gem in the entire galaxy who doesn’t know about the Winter Shadow. Every gift delivery ship and other important locations are under constant guard. A Pebble couldn’t sneak into a ship without proper clearance.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Exactly,” Blue continued. ”There is no way the Winter Shadow can get into anywhere to sabotage anything. As long as we don’t lower our guard, there’s nothing she can do.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I suppose…” White mumbled. She took a deep breath. Slowly, the upset colors started draining from her face. ”You’re right,” she said, much calmer now. ”I can not allow the Winter Shadow to dictate my feelings or actions. For now, we’ll just focus on Operation Christmas. Once that is done, we can start worrying about tracking down the Winter Shadow.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She smiled at her fellow Diamonds. Yellow and Blue smiled back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”That’s the spirit!” Spinel said. She started bouncing with excitement. ”Now let’s go have some fun!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Still, even as the three Diamonds left in good spirits, something was gnawing at the back of Yellow’s mind. She felt as if she had made a mistake…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She had in fact made a mistake. Something she said wasn’t quite true. It wasn’t true that every gem in the galaxy knew about the Winter Shadow. The Diamonds themselves had made sure of that. And they’d come to regret it within short.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">About half an hour, forty minutes later, the Diamond trio was standing back down on Homeworld’s surface, among the many gift delivery ships parked on the enormous launching grounds. They were standing in a veritable sea of gems. As far as the average gem could see, they were surrounded by hundreds, no, thousands of gems in every direction. And every single one of those gems was very excited.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Christmas was here! It was finally happening! Most gems could barely contain their enthusiasm! The launching grounds were bathed not just in colorful gems, but also in cheerful holiday greetings and singing. So. Much. Singing.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It should be a well-known fact by now that most gems love to sing. And there was no shortage of gems singing whatever Christmas songs they had picked up from Earth, or just made up on their own. The result was a chaotic symphony, various oddly matched voices belting out cheery tunes, clashing against the next group trying to outsing them with another happy musical.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was chaos incarnate. And in the midst of this tumultuous ecstasy stood the three Diamonds watching over the beautiful mess. Occasionally, a gem would walk up to them and shout ”Merry Christmas” at the top of her lungs or thank them for introducing this wonderful holiday to the rest of gemkind.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Of course, Spinel was down there somewhere, having the time of her life in the pandemonium.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Blue said. A few happy clouds were floating around her despite her best efforts to keep them under control.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”It really is,” Yellow said, waving away some of Blue’s clouds. ”I must admit, it seemed far-fetched at first… but we did it. And not just us, but all the small gems as well. It really seems like we can do anything as long as we stand united.” She tapped White on the shoulder. White’s gaze was wandering around the ground. ”Wouldn’t you agree, White?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hm? What did you say?” White asked, seeming a bit… unfocused.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Yellow said, still smiling, but her eyebrows lowering just a bit. ”What we can accomplish if we all work together.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh! Of course!” White said. ”I mean, just look at all these gems! I don’t think I’ve seen this many gems this happy in one place since… ever!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She suddenly flinched and looked down at her feet. A small Ruby was tapping at her toes, trying to get her attention.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”HELLO!” the Ruby yelled as loud as she could. Even then, it was hard to hear over the constant buzzing of the crowd around her. The Ruby was about as cute as they come. Notably, her gem was on her forehead, which was pretty uncommon among Rubies.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”H-hi,” White said. ”Nice to meet you.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT BEFORE, I USED TO BE SUPER AFRAID OF YOU, BUT NOW I THINK YOU’RE REALLY GREAT!” the Ruby yelled. ”AND ALSO, I MADE THIS FOR YOU!” She held up a small object made of glass.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, how nice,” White said. This was the first Christmas gift she had ever gotten. She reached down to grab the small object between the tips of her fingernails…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Crack!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">…only for it to break and shatter into a dozen pieces.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh!” the Ruby exclaimed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”S-sorry!” White stuttered. ”I… I didn’t mean to…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No, it’s fine!” the Ruby said, as cheery as ever. ”I should’ve made it bigger and stronger, like you! I’ll just make a new one!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”S-sorry,” White said again. Her gaze was dodging all around and there was a faint shade of green on her face. ”I… I have some… I need to go… and look at something…” She quickly began stumbling away from the field, nearly hitting a few gems in the crowd with her enormous feet. She was heading towards her old Headship still standing in the distance.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”What in the world…” Yellow muttered. ”Blue, did you see that? Something is wrong with White.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow looked like she was about to start following White, but Blue stopped her</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Remember, White is still not used to large and loud crowds like this,” she said. ”She got really upset when she broke that little Ruby’s gift and doesn’t know how to handle it… she probably got overwhelmed. I think she just needs a little peace and quiet away from people for a short while.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow hesitated but nodded.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’re probably right,” she said. ”In fact, these last three weeks have been really stressful for us all… I can’t really blame White if she needs some alone time. We can go check on her in an hour or so.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blue smiled.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I think that would be for the best,” she said. ”Besides… we could always use a bit extra time to put the last polish on her gift…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”That’s an excellent idea!” Yellow said with a smile. ”Oh, I just know she’s going to love it!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Meanwhile on Earth…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was nighttime in Beach City and everyone was asleep in the peaceful little town, except for a few cats sneaking around in the dark. Some gems were still up in Little Homeworld, but most of them were huddled up inside their homes, too busy to notice the warp pad activating outside. They didn’t see the brief flash of blue illuminate the sky, nor did they see the figure emerging from the light.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A figure as dark as the night itself walked slowly through the snow, headed towards the Crystal Gems’ temple and house.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven Universe was sleeping heavily in his bed, tucked underneath warm and cozy blankets. His dreams were filled with excited thoughts of tomorrow, Christmas Eve. His slumber was so deep that he didn’t hear the creak of the front door opening or the soft steps approaching him where he slept.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow leaned in and started whispering her poisonous words into Steven’s ear.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is it. The nightmare before Christmas begins today.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. The Ghost of Christmas Past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 19: The Ghost of Christmas Past</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Homeworld. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In White’s Head.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 23rd.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A winter’s day, in a deep and dark December. White was alone, gazing from the window to the streets below, on a freshly fallen, silent shroud of snow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She kept the view, watching groups of gems pass by, singing and cheering still. The sound didn’t reach her inside the tower, nor could she make out their smiles, but she could still see happiness and warmth radiating from them like light from a star.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White sighed and paced around her ship. She felt… agitated.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She wasn’t sure why, and that bothered her. She knew it had something to do with that Ruby and breaking her gift. That made her feel bad. But why? Why did it make her so upset? The Ruby wasn’t at all bothered, so why did it leave White feeling this bad? Why had she been gripped by this sudden overwhelming urge to run and hide?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Maybe it had something to do with the Winter Shadow’s message?</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White looked out her window again. She wasn’t looking at anything in particular. Every time she tried to focus on anything, her gaze would just slip off it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In her head, thoughts and contemplations spun around and walked in circles, leading only to dead ends.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, looking out the window. It could’ve been a minute, could’ve been an hour. Could’ve been a moment, could’ve been an eternity. Time itself seemed to melt and drift away as she vacantly stared outside in the cold distance.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Teehee…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In a moment, White’s attention was yanked away from the outside and brought right back inside the tower. It was like she woke up from a long slumber.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She swirled around, staggered by the impossible sound she had heard. Even after six thousand years she still recognized it. But it was impossible. It couldn’t be…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her eyes widened with shock when she saw who caused the sound.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Standing there, with her back turned against White…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Pink!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Pink Diamond was standing there.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But that was impossible! She was dead, gone forever! Yet there she was.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, Pink! I’m… you… but how…?” White could barely think, much less form complete sentences, so overwhelmed was she by a storm of emotions. She fell to her knees and reached for the smaller Diamond… only for Pink to slip away right before White could touch her. She didn’t move at all… it was more like an invisible force pushed her away.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, White,” Pink sighed, still standing with her back turned against White. ”You’re still pushing me away. Just like you always have.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”W-what?” White tried to reach out for Pink again, but once again, she seemed to slip away right before she could touch her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Silly White. You’re so brilliant, yet so blind. You can’t see the truth, even when it’s right here in front of you.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”What are you talking about?” White asked. She felt her body starting to shake. ”What truth?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Pink finally turned around and White flinched at the sight she was met with</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She looked exactly like she had done the last time White saw her all those years ago, except…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”P-Pink, your eyes…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her beautiful eyes, always so full of life and energy were gone, replaced with empty whites.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”These are the eyes of the dead,” Pink said. Her voice was hard and cold in a way White had never heard before. ”Do you know who killed me?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Y-you… you weren’t k-killed,” White stammered. ”You gave up your life to bequeath your gem to Steven…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Pink shook her head</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No, White,” she said. ”That’s how I died, but it’s not what killed me. You did.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”M-me?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes, you!” Pink shouted. Her pretty face distorted and twisted with wrath. ”You killed me, White! You! All I ever wanted was for you to love me and accept me for who I was, but you never did! When I begged you to spare the Earth, you refused! You didn’t even listen! You drove me away with your arrogance and refusal to even listen to even a word of what I had to say!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. She could only sit there on the cold floor and let the tears roll down her cheeks.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”The reason I gave up my life? It was because I couldn’t stand living in the same universe as you!” Pink spat.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Pink…” White tried to reach out for her, but again, Pink was pushed away, further away still. ”P-please, I… I’m sorry I…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, so now you care,” Pink scoffed. ”I’m afraid it’s a bit too late.” Large cracks started spreading from her gems and throughout her body.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”N-No!” White yelled, lunging forward towards Pink. ”Please forgive! I didn’t mean to…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Too late!” Pink screamed. The cracks on her body grew larger. Her voice cracked too and turned into a high-pitched shriek. ”You’re too late! I will never forgive you for what you did! You killed me!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White tried desperately to reach her beloved Pink. But no matter how hard she tried, the distance between them only seemed to grow ever larger. She could only watch helplessly as the cracks in Pink’s body grew larger and deeper.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”It’s too late,” Pink whispered. ”You killed me.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her body crumbled into dust, leaving White alone once again.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To Be Continued…</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. The Ghost of Christmas Present</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 20: The Ghost of Christmas Present</b>
  </span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In White’s Head.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 23rd.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White stood back up on shaking legs. Her entire body quivered and large tears ran down her cheeks. Quiet sobs echoed inside the large chamber of her tower.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She stumbled over to the window and looked outside. The sun was setting and it was coloring the sky bright pink. Yellow and Blue were emerging from the distance, walking slowly towards the tower. Spinel was sitting on Yellow’s shoulder, like usual. The setting sun cast long shadows on Homeworld, hiding their faces in dark silhouettes.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1"> White wanted to get out of her tower and run to them. But she couldn’t. The tower wouldn’t let her out. She wanted to call out to them. But she couldn’t. Her voice wouldn’t work. She could only stand there high up in her tall tower and watch while they passed her by. Watch and listen as their voices made it into her tower.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Is White hiding inside her tower again?” Yellow asked, saying White’s name as if it was a horrible curse.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes,” Blue responded, her voice as cold as the deepest darkest sea. ”She really hasn’t changed, has she?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Not at all,” Yellow scoffed. ”Here we are, trying to make everything better for the little gems; I’m repairing the gems I’ve broken and you’re helping spread happiness. And what does she do?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”She thinks the best way to help gems is to let them pretend they’re her for a while,” Blue sighed. ”Still as self-centered as always. Did you see what she did to that adorable little Ruby’s gift?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I did,” Yellow said. ”How rude. I’m sure that Ruby put a lot of work into crafting that gift, and the first thing White does is break it. How long do you think it will take before she does that to a gem? ’Accidentally,’ of course.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I know, I know…” Blue sighed. ”But we have to keep up with her. That’s what Steven wants. He still thinks she can be redeemed.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hmph,” Yellow snorted. ”Steven is hardly perfect himself. He could be wrong, you know.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Probably,” Blue admitted.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Definitely,” Yellow said. ”It’d be better if we could just get rid of her.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”It’s not like anyone would miss her, ” Spinel piped up. ”Not after everything she has done. Just look at what she did to me!” She smiled an empty smile while pointing at her upside down gem. ”Cause if you really think about it, in the end, this was all White’s fault.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”True,” Yellow said, patting the tiny pink gem on her shoulder. ”So true, Spinel.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Their voices started fading away as they left the tower behind them, disappearing into the coming night.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tears flooded down White’s face, landing on the floor. Her legs gave out under her and she collapsed on the floor. She buried her head in her arms. Loud sobs filled the cold empty tower.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 21: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In White’s Head.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 23rd.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tower seemed to darken around her. White looked up and there stood an enormous figure, even bigger than White herself. It was clad entirely in black robes. Its eyes were a pair of pits deeper than the darkest black hole.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”What do you want?” White sobbed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow said nothing. It only gestured slowly. The tower around them seemed to crumble and fall like a giant curtain. It was night now and the darkness was absolute. No stars in the sky and no moon. All the lights in the city around them seemed so distant and faint to White. Cold wind and snow hit her body and she shivered.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Slowly, the Winter Shadow started walking away. White stood up and followed it. She didn’t know why. It felt like her body was moving on its own and she was nothing but a spectator. She still felt the snow between her toes. Oh, how she hated that feeling.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They wandered in silence through the cold streets of Homeworld. Through the windows, White could see groups of gems celebrating with their friends inside their warm homes. She could see them speak, but she couldn’t hear them. She could see them, but they didn’t seem to see her. She was so close to them yet so far away at the same time.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The snow started falling more and more. The wind howled and making the snow swirl around. The darkness seemed to get thicker and deeper the further they walked. Soon, all lights had faded all around them and White could see nothing. The wind drowned all other sounds. She could only feel the frigid snow hitting her, the bitter wind gnawing at her skin, and her toes going numb.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yet her body kept on walking, kept on following the Winter Shadow. Even though the dark figure had melted into the darkness, she could still sense it moving and she was being dragged along.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After an eternity of walking through the blizzard, she spotted a light in the dark. A deep instinct flared up inside of her. The light. The warmth. She needed to be there.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She started running towards it as fast as she could, tripping and stumbling through snowbanks.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As she got closer, she recognized the building. It was the Beach House by the Crystal Gems’ temple on Earth. The house was lit up by the decorations Steven had put up and that he’d been so proud to show them…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White stopped and kneeled by the small house. The Winter Shadow was still approaching, slowly walking up behind her, getting ever closer and closer. But White didn’t care. She peeked in through the windows.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven was in there. So was the Crystal Gems. Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot. Steven’s friend Connie and his dad Greg were there. So were all the gems from Little Homeworld. So was Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl and Spinel and… Yellow and Blue…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They were in there, with everyone else. They were happy. Smiling. Singing. Having fun. Celebrating Christmas. Without White.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”This is your future,” the Winter Shadow said. It was standing directly behind White. It’s enormous hands wrapped around her wrists and started pulling her away, back into the cold and dark.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”N-no…” White said. Her lips quivered, and a single tear formed in her eye before it froze to ice. ”No…” White said again, her words becoming harder as the despair inside of her was pushed aside by another emotion. Her body started glowing and become hotter.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She could cry no more. Her tears were all dried up. There was only one thing she could do now.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>”NO!”</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She screamed.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Evil grows in the dark<br/>Where the sun it never shines<br/>Evil grows in cracks and holes<br/>And lives in people’s minds</p>
<p>Evil grew<br/>It’s part of you<br/>And now it seems to be<br/>That every time I look at you<br/>Evil grows in me</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. The Sleepwalker</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 22: The Sleepwalker</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 23rd</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A scream echoed across all of Homeworld. Countless gems were frozen in place, stunned silent and still. The scram, the roar, the sound… it felt them with terror, with dread, with fear.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow and Blue Diamond had been walking towards White’s tower when they heard it. It stunned them too when they heard it. They, better than any other gem, could feel it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They both clutched their heads from the pain.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”N-no…!” Blue whimpered. ”T-this kind of power…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”It’s her…” Yellow mumbled. Her normally so radiant skin turning as pale as the winter sun. ”Something’s wrong with White!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They started running toward the tower as fast as they could. Even as the scream stopped, they could still feel the psychic energy emanating from the tower. Seething, boiling, burning. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">KA-BOOM!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The front of the tower exploded, raining debris and dust on Yellow and Blue. But even though the thick dust, they saw it. Two dots glowing hot red.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As the dust settled, she came into view. White Diamond. Except she was no longer white.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her eyes glowed hot like two red giant stars. Her skin was scorching red and her entire body was surrounded by a fiery aura. Her face was contorted into a terrible grimace of pure, seething anger. Waves of wrath washed over them like heat from a raging wildfire.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For a few excruciating long moments, they stood there, the three Diamonds. None of them moved. Yellow and Blue’s eyes could see, but their minds could not process what it was they saw.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Slowly, White raised her gaze, looking towards the large field in the distance with all the parked spaceships. The Human Cruise Ship was still hovering over the field.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The red light in her eyes intensified until it shone brighter than a star. Two beams of energy shot from her eyes headed right for the Cruise Ship!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No!” Yellow yelled and jumped in front of the beams. She summoned lightning in her hand to block the beams. The clash of yellow electricity and red light exploded in a bright flash that pushed Yellow backward.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”White!” Blue bellowed. ”What are you doing!? What is wrong with you!?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But White didn’t answer. She slowly started walking toward the field in the distance, her feet cracking the ground beneath them with every step she took. Blue tried to grab White’s shoulder, but White pushed her aside. Blue staggered and fell to the ground, nearly crushing a building.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Blue!” Yellow yelled. She rushed towards White and grabbed her wrists, struggling to keep her from moving. ”Calm her down!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blue nodded and summoned a few of her euphoric clouds. She sent them towards White. Whatever was wrong with her, whatever the cause of this outburst was, perhaps it could be calmed down with some joy.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But the clouds didn’t even touch White. The fiery aura around her seemed to boil and disintegrate them into nothing.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White roared and threw Yellow to the side like she was nothing more than a doll. Yellow landed on a building, the structure nearly collapsing underneath her weight. The gems that had been hiding inside were forced outside before they were crushed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Once again, White turned her attention towards the Cruise Ship in the distance. Her eyes started glowing with power once more…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No!” Blue yelled. For the first time in two years, she allowed all of the sorrow she had felt throughout her life to spread outwards again. The air was darkened by her aura of indiscriminate grief and gems started crying all around her.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The aura clashed against White’s fiery aura, and for a moment, it looked like the fire was being swept away. White staggered and the light in her eyes flickered… but it was only for a moment. The fire around White rebounded, stronger than ever. Blue could feel the heat of wrath pushing against her flood of grief. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White slowly turned around. Her eyes shone with bright light and beams of energy shot from them, hitting the ground in front of Blue. The ground exploded, leaving a large crater and pushing Blue away. The explosion broke her concentration and her aura faded away.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She landed on the ground in front of a small group of gems standing paralyzed with fear. Chunks of debris fell like a furious hailstorm around them. Blue reached out and shielded the gems from the falling debris with her hand.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”R-run,” she said. ”Get away…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She heard Yellow let out a scream and quickly hurried back up on her feet. Yellow had grabbed White from behind, holding her in a tight bear hug.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Blue!” Yellow yelled. ”Something’s wrong! Quick!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She didn’t need to say more. Blue understood what she meant. Someone… someone or something was doing this to White.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She hurried up to them and grabbed White’s shoulders. The fiery aura burned her hands, but she held on. She looked right into White’s red glowing eyes. They were blank, filled only with the red hatred and wrath. Blue closed her eyes and slammed her forehead against White’s.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White’s hard gem dug into Blue’s skin, but she ignored the pain. She had to look deeper… follow the trail of psychic energy emanating from within White’s mind… find the one behind it…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For a moment, the physical world seemed to fade into nothing around Blue. The sound of screaming and fire around her was muted. The light became darkness. The feeling of her hands burning was numbed. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Then something hit her. A massive force of pure psychic energy cascaded from White and pushed away both Blue and Yellow, nearly sending them flying through the air.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I-impossible…” Yellow mumbled, clutching her head. ”It… it can’t be…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You felt it too?” Blue said. She bit her lip and tried to will the pain out of her mind.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The aura that was affecting White… the thing that was fueling her rampage… Blue recognized it. She recognized the color immediately.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White was also clutching her head. She suddenly let out a roar. She was sounding less and less like herself and more like a monster. A monster born from poison and fire, darkness and hatred.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She turned once again towards the Cruise Ship in the distance. Her eyes glowed with destructive energy… but the second before she fired, something small and pink came flying through the air. The gem’s fist enlarged and hit White Diamond in the jaw. The punch didn’t do much to actually hurt the Diamond, but it threw her aim off. The beams of energy sailed past the Cruise Ship harmlessly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Spinel landed on the ground.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Well, ain’t this just typical!” she said while bouncing towards Blue on her springy legs. ”I leave you guys alone for five minutes and this is what happens!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Despite her best efforts to hide it, it was clear to see and hear that Spinel was just as confused and terrified as anyone else.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The empty red eyes of White followed the tiny pink gem on the ground for a moment, but she soon turned her attention back towards the Cruise Ship once again.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blue struggled back up on her feet again. She summoned an orb of energy in her hand and threw it towards White. The ball hit White in the shoulder and made her stumble.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Spinel,” Blue said grimly, while cupping her hands. A ball of concentrated energy appeared in her palms as White slowly turned back towards her. ”We don’t know what’s going on, but Steven has something to do with this. Go to Earth. Find him, stop this. Me and Yellow will keep White busy.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”B-but…” Spinel started saying something, but she was interrupted.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blue roared and let loose a large wave of blue energy from her hands. At the same time, White blasted red hot energy from her eyes. The two beams clashed with each other, the two Diamonds struggling to overpower the other. Slowly but surely, White’s red beam pushed Blue’s back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”GO!” Yellow yelled, and flung a lighting bolt at White. The lighting was far from enough to poof White, but it was enough to break her concentration. Blue’s beam hit White in the chest and made her fly backward.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Spinel bit her lower lip hard enough to make her bleed had she been a human. She afforded herself one last glance towards her three giant friends locked in combat. Then she started running. She had to find a warp pad. Fast.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Behind her, she could hear the sounds of battle like a mighty thunderstorm. Crackling electricity, humming energy, and fiery explosions erupting every few seconds. The ground shook with every step the Diamonds took and she could feel the ancient bedrock beneath her feet beginning to crack.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">In front of her were crowds of gems, some of them running as fast as they could away from the battle, others frozen in place with fear. There were screams, sobs, and cries of terror filling the air alongside smoke, dust, and despair.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">As much as she wanted to help everyone, Spinel couldn’t stop. She had to get to Earth… Blue said Steven had something to do with this…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She formed her legs into coils and jumped high up into the air. From on high, she could see the beams of warp pads activating all around. They were all surrounded by large crowds of gems desperately trying to flee. But there was one warp pad that wasn’t used right now, the one over by the old palace.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Spinel hurried, bouncing as fast as she could over to that warp pad. It took her less than a minute, but it felt like an hour. Finally, she reached the warp pad. She barely had time to land on it before she activated it and she was engulfed by the bright light.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Earth…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The galaxy warp pad in Steven’s personal base and greenhouse activated with a soft chime and light that illuminated the dark dome. Spinel emerged from it, panting heavily. The contrast between Earth and Homeworld was astounding, almost disorienting. On Homeworld, everything was chaos. On Earth, everything was calm. It was in the middle of the night and there was a soft snowfall outside.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Spinel ran from the greenhouse down to Steven’s room. She tore open the door, breaking the lock in the process.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There she found Steven, lying in his bed. He was glowing bright pink and his face was contorted in a weird grimace.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Someone was standing next to him, whispering something in his ear. The figure, clad in a black robe and hood startled and looked up when Spinel burst into the room.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow glanced at Spinel for less than a second before she turned and tried to run away. Tried.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Spinel extended her arm and enlarged her hand. She grabbed the Winter Shadow before she had the time to make it down the stairs. She reeled in her catch and looked into the crude holes that made up the Winter Shadow’s eyes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Go ahead,” Spinel growled and squeezed the figure. Hard. ”Just try and escape. See what happens.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Winter Shadow hissed but stayed still.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Spinel walked over to Steven where he was laying in his bed. He was still glowing with pink light and he was mumbling something in his sleep. He looked distressed and sweat was pouring from his forehead. Spinel grabbed his shoulder and shook him.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Come on Steven, wake up!” she said. Steven groaned, and frowned, but his eyes remained shut. ”Oh… sorry,” Spinel muttered and slapped Steven hard.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven’s eyes opened, and for a moment, they too glowed pink. He sat up with a scream, panting heavily. The light around his body started fading away and he looked around, confused. He rubbed his head.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”S-Spinel…?” he mumbled. ”What are… why… Ow!” He closed his eyes and held his head tight between his hands. ”My head…” he groaned. ”I had the worst nightmare…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I’m afraid it was a bit more than just a nightmare,” Spinel said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven opened one of his eyes and glanced at Spinel. He noticed the figure she was holding in her enlarged hand.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”What the f-”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White roared and pushed Blue aside. Yellow jumped in front of Blue, her hands crackling with lightning. She punched White in the face, the electricity causing her skin to ripple and glitch, but no more. White grabbed Yellow’s hand and her eyes started glowing with red energy…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No!” Blue cried, trying to reach Yellow to pull her out of the way…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But then… the light started fading from White’s eyes. Slowly, the intensity lowered and the red disappeared. Her eyes returned to their normal color. The fiery aura around her extinguished and the red on her face faded. The expression on her face changed from angry, to confused, to horrified.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her lips quivered and she fell to her knees. Large tears started rolling down her cheeks. She buried her face in her head and sobbed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow and Blue walked over to her and silently embraced her while she cried.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Earth…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">All the commotion had disturbed the Crystal Gems, who were all now gathered in Steven’s bedroom. Spinel quite hastily (and poorly) explained who the mysterious black-clad stranger was and what she was doing there.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After several long minutes of confusion, they heard something large approaching in the distance. The Diamonds appeared outside of the beach house. They had used the galaxy warp in Little Homeworld to get there.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The three Diamonds were all still covered in dust and scruffs from the battle. White was still crying and her face was deep blue with sadness. Blue and Yellow on the other hand… Well, let’s just say, you did not want two Diamonds to look at you like they were staring at the Winter Shadow at that moment.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”So…” Blue Diamond said slowly. ”The Winter Shadow.” She nodded towards Spinel, who was still holding the figure in black. ”Let’s see who it really is.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Spinel dumped the Winter Shadow on the floor and grabbed the top of her hood. With one swift motion, she pulled the disguise right of the Winter Shadow!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Diamonds, the Crystal Gems, and Spinel all gasped. Steven raised his finger and pointed at the gem.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A trio of Rubies was making their way through a large apartment complex underneath the surface of Homeworld. This was in fact the same apartment complex where a certain Peridot N07-H3R lived. They were even on the same floor. But the Rubies didn’t know that, of course. They were there to see someone else.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The leader of the little group made sure to check and double-check the number on the door at least three times before she started knocking. Last time, they had ended up knocking on the wrong door, and the Jasper living there didn’t appreciate it very much.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey!” she yelled while banging on the door. ”Na-I mean, Ruby! Are you home!?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">No answer. The Ruby continued to bang on the door for a couple of minutes before she gave up and turned to her friends.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I don’t think she’s home,” Doc said defeatedly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’re just not knocking hard enough!” Army said and cracked her knuckles. ”Let me at it!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No!” Doc said. ”Remember what happened last time I let you knock?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…yes,” Army muttered angrily.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No?” Leggy said confusedly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The last time Doc let Army ”knock,” she ended up breaking the door down. The Topaz in that apartment was… less than happy about that.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Doc sighed and started walking away from there, her friends following her lead.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Stupid Navy,” Army said. ”She never wants to meet with us anymore. And Eyeball ran away…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey!” Doc said sharply and punched Army on the arm. ”They don’t like it when we call them by those names, so you shouldn’t. And Ruby isn’t stupid. She’s just.. busy,” Doc’s voice faltered for a bit, sounding very unconvinced. ”I mean, working at that Disarmament Unit is a lot of work I’ve heard…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yeah, yeah, sure,” Army muttered. ”And Ey-I mean Ruby?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Doc shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I don’t know what she’s up to,” she admitted. ”She said she had some ’unfinished business’ with Steven Universe, whatever that means… but hey, at least she got that cute Aquamarine! You guys saw her, right? She was hot!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”But Aquamarines aren’t hot?” Leggy said perplexedly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Nono,” Doc said quickly. ”I meant like… hot as in pretty! That Aquamarine was pretty!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No she wasn’t,” Army scoffed. ”You just have poor taste in gems.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Whatever,” Doc said and waved the conversation away before it could turn into an argument. ”I just hope Ruby liked the Christmas gift we left for her last time…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The once quintet, now trio continued to walk away from the apartment complex and out on the snow-covered surface of Homeworld. They talked about what they should do for Christmas and other important stuff.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Unbeknownst to them, their old friend had found the gift they left for her last time. The remnants of the gift, wrapped in colorful paper and signed by all three of them now lied on the floor of the cold, abandoned apartment. Burned to ashes.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Fun Fact: Sometimes while writing, I’ll listen to some music that fits the mood I’m trying to write. So if I’m writing something sad, I’ll listen to sad music. While writing most of this chapter, I ended up listing to Godzilla by Blue Öyster Cult and the Godzilla theme music from the 1954 movie on repeat.</p>
<p>The fight against White was initially supposed to last longer and be a lot flashier. But in the end, I didn’t feel like it fit the mood and what I was going for.</p>
<p>The Tragedy of the Winter Shadow concludes tomorrow.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. The Winter Shadow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 23: The Winter Shadow</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Earth…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 23rd</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Navy!” Steven and the Crystal Gems all gasped in unison. Because indeed, the gem sitting on the floor in front of them was none other than Navy the Ruby.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The tiny gem shot them all a look, her eyes filled with cold hatred.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hello Steven,” she said with her shrill, high-pitched voice. ”Did you miss your favorite little Ruby?” She looked at all the people around her, Steven, the Crystal Gems, Spinel, and the Diamonds. Suddenly she started giggling. The giggle grew into a mad cackle, an unhinged maniacal laughter.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Ahahaha! What’s the matter?” she yelled in between her laughing fits. ”Didn’t think the feared Winter Shadow could be a cute little Ruby, now could you?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I-I… but… why!?” Yellow blurted out, everyone else remaining speechless.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Navy stopped laughing. Her head moved from side to side for a few moments, as if she needed to think for a moment about her motivations for all the horrific crimes she had committed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Because I hate Christmas,” she said finally with a little shrug.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”But why?” Blue asked. ”Why do you hate Christmas? Where does this hatred come from?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You wanna know why I hate Christmas?” Navy asked. She grinned, showing her teeth like a wild animal ready to bite. ”I’ll tell you why. Because it’s all a lie! You all want to pretend like there is some kind of goodness in this world like everyone is truly good deep within their hearts, or some nonsense like that!” Every word from Navy’s lips was laced with poison. ”But it’s all a lie! People are self-centered and greedy! People are violent and full of hatred! They only pretend to be good because they are afraid of getting in trouble. Kindness and generosity are just people trying to get something back in return. In this world full of sinners, hypocrisy is the only virtue.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She made a brief pause in her mad diatribe to look up at the stunned silent audience. She smiled savored every moment, enjoying the subtle expressions of horror, shock, and anguish on their faces. Her broad smile was without happiness, filled instead with a twisted pleasure. She looked right at White Diamond.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hypocrites like you,” she said. ”Hypocrites who pretend like you have truly changed, when in reality, you are every bit as evil as you have always been.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Silence!” White Diamond screamed. Her eyes flashed red once more and Navy was lifted up into the air by an invisible force. For a moment, the light in White’s eyes grew more powerful and it was aimed right at Navy’s gem…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was over before anyone had the time to react.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Navy dropped back to the floor. Unharmed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White was sitting on the ground, panting heavily. Large, silent tears were rolling down her cheeks once again. All hints of red were gone from her face, replaced by guilty greens and horrified purples.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Wh-what’s the matter?” Navy croaked. ”Can’t bring yourself to shatter a measly Ruby anymore? My stars, you’ve lost your edge.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”N-no…” White mumbled, shaking her head violently. She looked nauseous. ”I-I can’t. Not anymore. I’m not evil like you.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Navy smiled with sadistic glee.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’re just like me,” she said. ”Everyone is. Just give them the right push and everyone will turn into a monster. You know it’s true. Just look what happened at Homeworld. And let’s face it, if the others weren’t here, I’d be dust by now. Admit it! You want to shatter me, but you don’t dare try it while Steven and the others are here! Come on! Look me in the eyes and tell me I’m wrong!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’re wrong,” said a voice, but not White’s.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was Steven.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Navy swiveled around to be faced by Steven’s warm gaze. To someone filled with as much cold hatred as her, it was like facing a bright burning sun.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’re wrong,” Steven said, refusing to blink as he stared deeply into Navy’s eyes. ”White is nothing like you. She got a second chance and she took it. She is trying so hard to be a better person. She is a better person. You got a second chance too. Just like every other gem. That’s what Era 3 is. A second chance. You could’ve made a new life for yourself, without any of the restraints that shackled you before. But you refused it. You didn’t even try to become a better person. You took the easy way out and chose to stay evil and bitter. And now you’re so convinced of this lie that you will do anything to drag everyone else down to your level. But that won’t happen. Because you’re wrong. There is goodness in this world. There are people who are kind and giving and helpful and generous. But if you can’t see that… then I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do to help your poor abandoned soul.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For the first time, Navy had nothing to say.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">xxXXxx</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A Jail cell on Homeworld…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A Few Hours Later…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Navy stayed silent while the Crystal Gems dragged her off to jail on Homeworld. She stayed silent during the initial interrogation. She stayed silent as she was thrown into her cell.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">All things considered, her cell was pretty comfortable. It was pretty big, so she had lots of room to move around or pace if she felt like it. There was a chair and a table and even a bizarre contraption called a ”hammock.” She was allowed to watch movies and listen to music. The catch with that privilege though was that every fifteen minutes or so, an ad would pop up with Steven saying ”I’m disappointed in you.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Navy didn’t care to watch any movies though. She just sat on her chair in silence, thinking. I’ll spare you the unpleasantness of having to read through the twisted thoughts inside that gem’s head. Suffice it to say, most of them centered around various ways to make other people suffer.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Several hours passed by. Eventually, Christmas morning came, and suddenly, the cell door opened. Navy turned her head ever so slightly to see what was going on. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Outside the door stood the Warden, a hulking Bismuth and Topaz fusion. Her frame took up the entire exit, so Navy couldn’t see what was behind her. Though she assumed there was probably a small battalion of guard gems standing there as well. And there was. But there was something else outside…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Special delivery,” the Warden said. She grinned widely. ”You got a Christmas gift.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She threw something through the air. Something small, round, and black. It landed on the table Navy was sitting at with a small ”thunk.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For the first time in several hours, Navy spoke.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…what?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was a small piece of coal. There was a sticker taped to it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”To: Navy. From: Steven and the Diamonds,” it said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Navy’s eye twitched madly. She grabbed the piece of coal, set it on fire, and then threw it on the floor. She stared at the Warden, who was holding back a laugh.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We’ve got more,” she said. She picked up three more pieces of coal and threw them into the room. They landed at Navy’s feet. ”From ’Spinel and the Pearls.’”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She reached into the large sack behind her and pulled out two more pieces of coal.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Let’s see… these are from ’Peridot and Herderite…’” She threw them at Navy’s feet as well. ”And then we got from ’Frosty and the Mamas…” Half a dozen more pieces of coal landed at Navy’s feet. ”We also got a delivery from ’Holly Blue and the Famethyst…’”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">At that point, she just threw the entire sack into the room.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”…are you done?” Navy asked slowly. She was fuming, the heat emanating from her body threatening to set the pile of coal at her feet on fire.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Warden smiled.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Not by a long shot,” she said and moved to the side. Behind her were several laughing guards and what looked to be a truckload of coal. ”We got a special delivery from Little Homeworld as well,” she said and transformed her hands into giant shovels. ”We’re gonna be here for a long while.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Navy screamed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It took the guards a few hours to shovel all of the coal into the cell. Navy spent the rest of her Christmas Eve sitting atop an enormous pile of red-hot coal and ash.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The story of the Winter Shadow is a tragedy. It is the tragedy of someone so utterly incapable of seeing the good in the people around her. It drove her to try and spread her evil like poison. And still, after everything… she has not learned.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The author sincerely hopes that she one day will come to see the greater truth of this world. But he fears that she never will.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That is the tragedy of the Winter Shadow.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Navy is one of the few people who can pull off being a twist villain twice.</p>
<p>Man oh man, these last twenty-three days have been passing by fast, haven’t they? I still need like… a week to prepare for tomorrow.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Merry Christmas!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lamp Entertainment presents…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>Chapter 24: Merry Christmas!</b>
  </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Earth….</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">December 24th.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Despite her best efforts, Navy’s plan to destroy Christmas was a total failure on all fronts. There was some collateral damage, sure, but not a single gem had been shattered or even cracked during White’s rampage. Nor did she succeed in stopping Operation Christmas. The space ships loaded with gifts all left on time as planned and made their way towards Earth.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">All over the Earth, gifts were delivered and dropped off to pleasantly surprised humans (and a few spooked ones as well).</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Among the many millions of ships filled with gifts was one very special ship commissioned for a very special household…</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was late in the afternoon and the sun had already set over Beach City. Exuberant Christmas decorations covered practically every building, both in the beachside town, but also in Little Homeworld. The Crystal Gem Temple and beach house were also covered in decorations, of course.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The gems in Little Homeworld were having a great party. There were singing and snowball fights, foods and fun. All the families and people of Beach City were celebrating in different ways with odd little traditions that inevitably form in different families. The Crystal Gems, Greg, Connie, and her parents were all gathered in the beach house.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven was busy helping Amethyst and Pearl preparing dinner when they heard something outside. The sound of jingle bells passing by over the house. Outside the window, they saw a flying sleigh pulled by nine reindeers landing on the beach, right where Steven had put the ”Landing Zone” sign.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was Santa Claus. No person on the planet could mistake the person in the sleigh. The red clothes and hat, the white beard, the cheerful smile. The reindeers, including one with a glowing nose. The large sack filled with presents sitting in the back of the sleigh.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Everyone gasped at the sight, save Steven. He only smiled. He was expecting this.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven rushed outside to meet the figure.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hohoho!” laughed the jolly figure in the sleigh. ”Merry Christmas, Steven Universe! And to everyone else as well! A very merry Christmas to you all!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven turned around and looked at the big hill behind the temple. Three very large heads quickly hid behind it.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”White!” Steven shouted. ”Yellow, Blue! Spinel! You can come out! I know you’re there!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No we’re not!” Blue yelled back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Shh!” Yellow hushed loudly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Quiet you two!” White whispered harshly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I think they already heard us…” Spinel said defeatedly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Slowly, the three Diamonds and one Spinel walked out from their hiding spot.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”How did you know we were here?” White asked, legitimately confused as to how anyone could’ve heard or seen them.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I figured you probably wanted to see this,” Steven said and gestured towards Santa Claus, who was now looking very awkward. So did the reindeer, who were all glancing at the three Diamonds. ”I mean, you must’ve worked very hard to put all of this together.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Whaaat?” White said nervously. She waved her hands dramatically. ”Steven, it sounds like you’re implying that <em>we</em>, the Diamonds, who just so happened to be here at this particular time, have something to do with this visit from Santa! Almost like you’re saying that’s actually a group of gems that have shapeshifted into the image of Santa and his reindeer.” She paused for a moment. ”Which I can assure you is most definitely not the case.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Those reindeers are red, orange, and purple,” Steven said and pointed towards the nervous herd of reindeers.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I fail to see how that is in any way indicative of them being gems and not authentic Earth reindeer,” White said stubbornly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”White, I know Santa isn’t real,” Steven said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It took a few seconds for the Diamonds to process these words.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”WHAT!?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Everyone laughed, except for the Diamonds themselves. White’s face turned bright pink.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”B-b-but…” she stammered. ”You were so excited for Santa’s visit!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Oh, White,” Steven said, wiping a happy tear from his eye. ”Just because something isn’t real doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Get it?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”No?” White said, confused. Yellow started laughing as well and Blue giggled a little.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I think I get it,” Yellow said. ”It’s the ’idea’ of Santa Claus and what he represents that’s important. Not whether he actually exists or not."</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I guess…” White mumbled. She waved towards the group of shapeshifted gems. ”Well, I guess you can all return to your normal forms.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Nah,” one of the reindeer said (actually an Amethyst). ”I think we’ll stay like this.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I kinda like this new form too,” said ’Santa Claus’ (actually a Carnelian and Amethyst fusion). ”People always seem so happy when they see us like this… Besides! I didn’t even get to deliver the gifts yet!” She enthusiastically reached into the large sack and started picking up presents wrapped in colorful paper. Rather clumsily. The Diamonds and Spinel themselves had tried to wrap them. Which… could’ve gone worse. Could’ve gone better too.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Everyone got their gifts, though when it came to Steven’s gift, the Santa Claus gem needed some help.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blue pulled something about the size of a parachute from the sack and handed it to Steven. And by ”handed,” the author means ”dumped it on top of him so he disappeared underneath a mountain of cloth.” It was an enormous knitted sweater.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”We know it’s a bit big,” Blue said. The three Diamonds were smiling proudly; they had made it themselves. ”But I’m sure you’ll grow into it.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Thanks,” Steven said after he finally managed to crawl out from underneath the sweater. ”Hey, why don’t you come inside? I got a gift for you guys too.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”R-really”?” White said, her face briefly lighting up with excited yellow light.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Of course!” Steven said. ”Now come on! We were just in the middle of getting dinner ready.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”But…” White hesitated, eyeing the (to her anyway) way too small beach house. ”How are we going all going to fit inside your house?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I dunno, can’t you just… shrink down or something?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Diamond trio shrugged. They grabbed each other’s hands and closed their eyes. Yellow lit up with yellow electricity which spread to the other two. Slowly, the massive gems started shrinking down to more reasonable heights. Well, reasonable by gem standards. Yellow and Blue were still well over two meters tall, and White’s hair at its peak was just shy of three meters tall. Still, they were small enough to fit inside the house.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Have we always been able to do that?” Blue asked after they finished shrinking.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I don’t know,” Yellow said, stretching her arms experimentally. ”But I have to say, this feels… odd.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I’ll say,” White mumbled, tapping the point of her gem. She had to rotate it so most of it was inside her head. Only the sharp tip was pointing outward.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They started walking toward the beach house, stumbling a bit in the snow, unused to having such short legs.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven turned to the Santa gem and her reindeers.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”You’re welcome too,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hohoho!” the Santa gem laughed. ”Thank you, but I’m afraid we have other places to be!” She whipped the reins and the gem reindeer started running. The sleigh rose into the air and started flying away, the Santa gem’s laugh mixed with jingle bells echoing over the town. Steven pondered for a moment exactly how those shapeshifted gems learned how to fly, but decided that he didn’t need to know.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He hurried after the three Diamonds.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hey, White,” he called out. ”Could I just talk to you for a minute?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Hm?” White said. ”Sure.” </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow and Blue looked at Steven, then at White, and then at each other. They continued inside.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I…” Steven hesitated for a moment. ”I just wanted to ask you… are you okay? I don’t remember much, but I saw some of the things Navy made you see…” he shivered, but not because of the cold.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">White smiled warmly.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Yes, I’m fine,” she said. ”I talked about it with Yellow, Blue, and Spinel. And I’m doing fine now.” That conversation between the four of them had gone on for several hours. There was much crying from everyone involved. ”I see now that what the Winter Shadow… Navy made me see… it was nothing more than empty lies. And I know that she’s wrong.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was a pregnant pause. None of them said a thing for what seemed like several minutes. They just stood there and looked into the distance, up at the starry sky.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Finally, White spoke up.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Steven, I’m sorr-”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”I’m sorry,” Steven blurted out, interrupting White.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”F-for what?” White asked.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Navy used my powers to take control of you,” Steven said. ”And that was my fault. I should’ve woken up, or sensed that something was wrong, or… or… I could’ve just locked my front door so she couldn’t just waltz right on in!”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Nono, it’s all my fault!” White said. ”It was my idea to keep Operation Christmas secret from you and the Crystal Gems. If I had let them know about the Winter Shadow, they could’ve protected you. Or I could’ve just let you know from the beginning!” She sighed deeply. ”Or maybe I shouldn’t have let her take control of me like she did…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was another pause, a silence filled with tension. It was interrupted by Yellow poking her head out the door.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Are you two done blaming yourself for things that aren’t your fault yet?” she asked sarcastically. ”Because if so, I could use your help keeping Blue away from the mulled wine.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Steven and White looked at each other.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”What do you say? Should we just forget about all the sad stuff for today?” Steve asked with a smile.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”That sounds good,” White said, smiling back.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The inside of the house was warm and inviting, with the rich smell of Christmas food hanging in the air. The large group of gems, humans, hybrids, and a lion sat down to eat. Well, most of them anyway. Lapis and Peridot still didn’t like eating. Pearl would occasionally nibble a little at something. Very little. Barely a mouse bite. White flat-out refused to put any food or drink in her mouth. Blue was not a big fan of chewing, but she liked to drink, especially hot drinks. Yellow on the other hand turned out to be something of a glutton. She and Amethyst actually ended up having an eating competition. Amethyst won, based on her superior experience.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">After dinner, it was time for gifts!</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Greg and the Crystal Gems gave Steven a brand new electric guitar, which he went starry-eyed over. From Steven, Greg got a collection of Kerry Moonbeam LP:s. Also from Steven, Connie got the entire series of The Good Witch Azura, a pile of five massive books. Lapis gave Peridot some exotic seeds and Peridot gave Lapis some paint she had made. It would start glowing or change color depending on the lighting.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Someone gave Spinel a unicycle, which was about as good of an idea as you think it was. Unless you thought it was a good idea. Because it really wasn’t. At least she didn’t break anything that couldn’t be fixed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To Steven’s horror, the gems continued to support his girlfriend’s obsession with deadly weapons. Pearl and Bismuth gave Connie a katana.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">So in one end of the room was Spinel on her unicycle. On the other end, Connie practicing with her new katana. Honestly, it was a miracle no one ended up being poofed.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Yellow and Blue revealed what they had been working on for White. A pair of giant winter boots.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”Since you always look so uncomfortable whenever you’re out and walking in the snow,” Blue explained.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The boots were suitably fancy and sexy for White, of course. The author isn’t sure what constitutes as ”sexy” when it comes to winter boots, so he’ll leave that up to the imagination of his dear readers.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">For the Diamonds, Steven got them each a painting of Rose. Vidalia, Lapis, and her art students had spent a lot of time working on those paintings. They showed Rose both as Pink Diamond and as Rose Quartz. </span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The celebration continued for many hours, well into the night. It only stopped when some of the humans started dozing off. Only then did the Diamonds and Spinel decide to head back to Homeworld. They headed out into the night, growing back to their regular sizes.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Down on Earth, Christmas parties and celebrations still continued, or they were just getting started. Out in space, trillions of gems were all celebrating as well.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">But as they were walking on that stretch between Steven’s house and their ship, the night was silent and still around them. Blue was carrying Spinel, who had finally tired herself out. Yellow got tasked with carrying everything else. White was walking ahead, lighting the way with the happy yellow shine from her face.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Blue yawned.</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">”This was so much fun,” she said. ”We should do this again next year.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Neither Yellow nor White said anything back. They didn’t need to. Because all of them already knew the answer. Of course they’d do this again next year.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">
    <b>The End</b>
  </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And there we go! I actually finished something! Woo! </p>
<p>Firstly, before anything else, I’d like to make another shoutout to my friend Toonfreak. That joke about the Diamonds giving Steven a ridiculously oversized sweater was something she came up with. And I stole it.</p>
<p>I would also like to thank all of you who have been reading, following, and commenting on this story. You guys rock!</p>
<p>I’ve had so much fun writing this story, I might just do this again next year! Probably not, but who knows~</p>
<p>For the foreseeable future though, I’ll have to get back to working on JoJo and the Crystal Gems as well as my liveblog (link in my profile, hint hint). There’s also an idea I had for a Lapis and Peridot story… But that’s all in the future! Today, I will celebrate Christmas!</p>
<p>Maybe we will meet again someday, maybe we won’t. Regardless, I’m The Lampman, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year! Thank you for reading!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Surely, this can only end well.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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